Prysmian Group, the energy and telecom cable systems provider, on Wednesday welcomed U.S. President Joe Biden on a visit to the site of its new subsea power cables plant in Brayton Point, Massachusetts.
Prysmian said it was set to transform the area, home to the former Somerset coal plant, into a high-tech hub for the energy transition process.
The Brayton Point factory will manufacture subsea inter-array and export cables up to 275 kV AC or 525 kV DC, that are needed to connect offshore wind farms to mainland power grids.
These cables will be used to deliver power from several new offshore wind farms, vital to President Biden’s goal of installing 30 GW in offshore wind power by 2030.
The plant will also have an R&D facility with a high-voltage test lab, which, according to Prysmian, be the first of its kind in the United States.
"In addition to being a fundamental asset for offshore wind production in the U.S., Prysmian’s investment will play a positive role in the community, developing Brayton Point into a strategic knowledge and production center supporting the sustainable development of this area, and creating new quality jobs and opportunities," Prysmian said.
“We are very proud of welcoming President Biden; this visit highlights our role in supporting the energy transition in the U.S. market. We are committed to making all our resources and global expertise available to support the development of crucial cable connections for offshore wind energy use”, said Hakan Ozmen, EVP Projects Business Prysmian Group, who welcomed President Biden together with Andrea Pirondini, CEO Prysmian Group North America.
Prysmian Group has the Vineyard Wind 1 offshore wind farm cabling project already underway, and its order book also includes the €900 million Commonwealth Wind and Park City projects awarded by Vineyard Wind and the €630 million project to link the 2.6 GW Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) wind farm to the mainland grid. Another project under execution is the Empire Wind inter-array cable.
As reported earlier, the Biden administration on Wednesday said it had identified 700,000 acres for possible offshore wind energy development in the Gulf of Mexico. Read more here.
President Biden also directed the Secretary of the Interior to advance wind energy development in the waters off the mid- and southern Atlantic Coast and Florida’s Gulf Coast —alleviating uncertainty cast by the prior Administration.