US Wind is getting set to build a monopile manufacturing facility named Sparrows Point Steel in Baltimore County. The facility will serve as an offshore wind deployment hub for producing monopolies, which are the undersea base of an offshore wind turbine, used in securing the turbine to the seabed.
US Steel will invest up to US$ 77M in developing this Sparrows Point Steel facility at the Tradepoint Atlantic logistics center.
According to Tim Mack, US Wind’s foundations and localization manager, a building that was formerly used to construct hulls of Liberty Ships will be repurposed and used as the new manufacturing and assembly space, for producing monopiles at the Tradepoint site. In addition, a second building on the site will also be used for painting both the interior and exterior parts of the monopiles, to prevent them from getting damaged while underwater.
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Sparrows Point Steel in Baltimore to begin production in 2025
Last year US Wind announced that actual construction on the Sparrows Point Steel project would commence in 2024 and the company expects the facility to begin the production of monopiles for wind turbines in 2025. Mark mentioned that the facility is expected to produce up to 100 monopiles annually at full capacity and would need between 375 to 550 employees working across three shifts to operate effectively.
Presently, US Steel is at the pre-construction phase of the Sparrows Point Steel project, while civil construction is scheduled to begin in 2023. This year US Steel will work on completing the pre-construction work on the site, which includes site surveys, analysis on the buildings, and design alterations that will be made to the existing buildings.
The company also has plans of building two offshore wind farms off the coast of Maryland, which include MarWin, a 300-MW, 21-turbine project, approved in 2017 by the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC), and Momentum Wind, an 800-MW, 55 turbine project approved last December by the PSC.
US Steel to make use of local vendors throughout the construction phase
US Steel says it plans to make use of local vendors throughout the construction phase of the Sparrows Point Steel project. Maynard Smith, US Wind’s business engagement manager, said his team has traveled all around Maryland state, discussing with vendors about the project and how they can participate in it.
He also said his team has collated a database of about 900 vendors over the past few months. Smith and his team are planning to organize training programs for small businesses to give them a clear understanding of how to get involved in the project.
