Danish manufacturing contractor Welcon and Canadian fabricator Marmen have agreed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to build towers and fixed and floating foundations for the fast-emerging US offshore wind market.
The towers and ‘Stiesdal’ foundations will be manufactured in a new factory “in the northeastern US”, the pair said in a statement announcing the MoU. Marmen told Recharge a location would be finalised in the first quarter of next year “if everything turns out well”.
The partners said: “Marmen’s leading position in North America combined with Welcon’s expertise in the fabrication of offshore towers and Stiesdal foundations will create a solid synergy that will allow both companies to reach the common goals.”
“This partnership unites two well-experienced companies in the wind industry in a joint venture which will contain all the ingredients needed to design, build and operate a top modern tower [and] foundation factory with lean production and robot technology in the production lines,” said Welcon chairman Carsten Pedersen.
Marmen president Patrick Pellerin added: “We are very excited about our new partnership. We strongly believe that it represents the best combination of expertise and talent possible to dive into the huge opportunity that the US offshore wind market represents.”
The US offshore wind market is forecast to see massive growth in the next decade, with some 6GW of capacity already planned and over 20GW in the pipeline for construction before 2035.
Among recent contracts, Welcon is providing the 80 towers for Orsted’s Borssele 1&2 offshore wind farm in the Dutch North Sea and the steel piece-work for the TetraSpar prototype project being run by Stiesdal Offshore Technologies with backing from energy giants Shell and Innogy.
