Orsted, the parent company of Orsted U.S. Offshore Wind, has announced a partnership with North America's Building Trades Union, which represents more than three million craft professionals. The partnership will create a national agreement designed to transition American union construction workers into the offshore wind industry in collaboration with the leadership of the 14 NABTU affiliates and the A.F.L.-C.I.O.
There are now 15 active commercial leases for offshore wind development in the United States. If fully built, the leases would support up to 30 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity, according to a report released by the American Wind Energy Association, representing an estimated 83,000 jobs and $25 billion in annual economic output within the next decade.
Orsted and its partners will work with the building trades unions to identify the skills necessary to accelerate an offshore wind construction work force. The groups will match those needs against available workers, timelines, scopes of work, and certification requirements to fulfill Orsted's pipeline of projects.
Orsted has the largest footprint among offshore wind developers operating in U.S. waters, having been awarded 2.9 gigawatts of power contracts up and down the Eastern Seaboard from Rhode Island to Maryland.