President Joe Biden today traveled to Somerset, MA to announce a number of climate change initiatives and tour a former coal-fired power plant that has been converted to manufacture products, including submarine power cables for use in offshore wind projects. It is estimated that 6,800 miles of cable will be needed to reach the administration’s goal of 30 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity by 2030. Vineyard Wind will be the first offshore wind project constructed in federal waters and will utilize cable produced in Somerset. Upon completion, the project is expected to provide 800 MW of offshore wind energy a year to the state of Massachusetts—enough to power more than 400,000 homes.

In response to the president’s trip, the BlueGreen Alliance released the following statement from Executive Director Jason Walsh:

“The facility President Biden toured today is just one of a handful in the nation already gearing up to produce the foundations, towers, cables, and blades needed to meet the growing demand for offshore wind. These facilities are just the beginning. There is massive potential to create good jobs across the country building the robust supply chain necessary to support our growing offshore wind sector. 

“However, more can and must be done. Alongside executive action to boost clean manufacturing, Congress needs to pass a budget reconciliation package with the manufacturing and clean energy tax credits and strong labor and domestic sourcing standards needed to help grow critical clean energy supply chains and create good-paying union jobs.”