The first American-built offshore wind service operations vessel (SOV), the 262-foot ECO Edison has reached its 50% construction milestone at the Edison Chouest LaShip yard in Houma, La., and senior officials from Ørsted and Eversource were this week joined by House majority leader Steve Scalise, whose district includes Houma, to tour the yard and see the progress on the vessel.
Reaching the 50% milestone on this first U.S.-built SOV has seen more than 275,000 work hours logged to date, with no lost-time accidents and the VIP group met with members of the Chouest family and some of the 400 local workers building the SOV during their tour.
What a day. @OrstedUS is supporting industries across America through our projects and today in Houma, La. we celebrated progress on the first US-built wind farm service operations vessel with Majority Leader Scalise, @edisonchouest and many workers who are building this vessel pic.twitter.com/tGlCF4vDfz
— Ryan O. Ferguson (@ryanoferguson) April 5, 2023
“This shipyard and this vessel are living proof that American offshore wind energy is providing economic opportunity and creating jobs today across the country,” said David Hardy, group EVP and CEO Americas at Ørsted. “This first American service operations vessel represents the ingenuity of businesses like Edison Chouest to build upon their legacy in offshore energy and to supply a cutting-edge vessel that will allow workers to safely and effectively operate offshore. The offshore wind energy industry is utilizing the talented and expert Gulf Coast workforce, and we’re proud that this first-of-its-kind vessel will support the production of more American energy, strengthening our national security and powering millions of American homes.”
“Offshore wind is a key driver of economic growth, creating well-paying jobs in states across the country and forging a new, domestic supply chain that, together, will position our nation as a global leader in the industries of tomorrow, today,” said Mike Ausere, vice president of business development at Eversource Energy. “This vessel is a testament to American leadership: Designed and built in the United States; as long as the Superdome is tall; able to host 60 wind turbine technicians – all whom will benefit from the vessel’s state-of-the-art accommodations to keep them safe and well-cared for while at sea; and ready to support the long-term operations and maintenance of our portfolio of offshore wind farms and consequent production of enough energy to power more than a million U.S. homes.”
“We’re proud to put our expertise to work on such an important vessel for the offshore wind industry’s future American fleet,” said Gary Chouest, president of Edison Chouest Offshore. “Thanks to our decades of experience in offshore industries, our in-house engineers, and the hard work of more than 400 of our shipbuilders, we’re now more than 50% complete on this historic, specialized vessel that will serve as a model for the U.S. offshore wind industry and a homebase for American offshore wind technicians for years to come.”
The ECO Edison is being built at Chouest in-house shipyards in Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida, supporting hundreds of jobs, with components of the vessel sourced from 34 states.
Ørsted, Eversource and Edison Chouest expect to christen the ECO Edison in 2024, and the vessel will play an integral part of the operation and maintenance of Ørsted and Eversource’s Revolution Wind, South Fork Wind and Sunrise Wind projects, together planned to generate more than 1.7 gigawatts of offshore wind energy, enough to power more than a million homes. The vessel will be based in Port Jefferson, New York.
