Louisiana Company Manufactures Jacket Foundations for America's First Offshore Wind Farm

May 15, 2017

Residents of Block Island, Rhode Island, are saving money thanks to their new offshore wind farm, but they are not the only ones to benefit from the project. According to a Greater Baton Rouge Business Report article, local company Gulf Island Fabrication "jumped at the chance" to assist with the jackets for the first offshore wind farm in the United States, bringing years of experience with offshore oil and gas platforms to a new industry. Although the company's designs were modified to accommodate wind turbines, the jacket components were fabricated in existing Gulf Island facilities using a core group of as many as 300 workers, including pipefitters, welders, sandblasters, scaffold builders, and painters. Another Louisiana company, Montco Inc., helped assemble the wind farm components in the Atlantic from a liftboat. Montco's boat is normally used to decommission offshore oil and gas platforms.