Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick announced Wednesday that Middleboro, Massachusetts-based Mass Tank Sales Corporation, a steel tank manufacturer, will manufacture foundations and other metalwork components of the Cape Wind renewable energy project in Nantucket Sound.
Mass Tank will enter into a partnership with Erndtebrucker Eisenwerk GmbH & Co. KG (EEW) of Germany, the world's leading manufacturer of offshore wind energy structural components, to provide offshore wind energy components from a new facility located at a Massachusetts site that has yet to be determined, as well as EEW's European production facilities. Mass Tank will establish the first facility in the country for the manufacture of these offshore wind components, creating more than 100 jobs -
with the potential to exceed 350 jobs - as Massachusetts becomes a major supplier to future offshore wind installations up and down the Atlantic Coast.
Cape Wind Associates has entered into a Letter of Intent with Mass Tank and EEW to purchase monopile foundations and transition pieces, which connect the foundation to the turbine tower, as well as other related steel products including platforms, ladders, and piping, for construction of its wind project in Nantucket Sound.
"We are very excited to have the opportunity to participate in this first-of-its-kind manufacturing facility serving the offshore wind industry in the United States," said Carl Horstmann, CEO of Mass Tank.
"EEW has been a producer of heavy walled steel pipes for the offshore oil and gas and offshore wind industries since the mid 1970s, and this presents a strong opportunity to serve a new market and fulfill the company's goal of producing pipes on a global basis," said Timothy Mack, head of business development, offshore wind, for EEW. "We believe strongly in Cape Wind and are excited about this partnership extending EEW into the US offshore wind market."
As the first offshore wind energy project in the United States, Cape Wind will create construction jobs, reduce dependence on volatile energy sources and make Massachusetts a world leader in clean energy development, deployment and jobs.