Baltimore County Offshore Wind Manufacturing Hub will receive approximately $47 million from the Port Infrastructure Program of the US Department of Transportation Maritime Administration to further develop its hub at Tradepoint Atlantic
The announcement was made on November 7 by the US Congressman Kweisi Mfume, Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen and Congressmen Dutch Ruppersberger, John Sarbanes, and Jamie Raskin.
The funding was made available through the Maritime Administration’s Port Infrastructure Development Program for fiscal year 2023.
The federal dollars will be used to prepare the former site of the Bethlehem Steel shipyard and the future site of Sparrows Point Steel—Maryland’s first permanent offshore wind component factory – to accommodate heavy cargo onsite.
In March, US Wind, the developer of the MarWin and Momentum Wind projects in Maryland, partnered with Haizea Wind Group to manage and operate Sparrows Steel.
The new facility in Baltimore County will serve for the manufacture of steel components for the US offshore wind industry, including monopiles and towers, with US Wind to be among the first to procure components from the factory.
The plant and power plan was first revealed two years ago but the Federal funding means work will begin.
In 2021 a Maryland offshore energy developer is promising to build a massive steel plant outside Baltimore, creating hundreds of union jobs as it assembles one of the largest offshore wind farms on the East Coast.
U.S. Wind unveiled plans on April 7 2021 for the Sparrows Point Steel and Momentum Wind projects here at the site of the former Bethlehem Steel Corp. mill and shipyard, which produced steel for World War II Liberty ships and the Golden Gate Bridge before filing for bankruptcy in 2001.
The Baltimore-based company’s announcement underscores how low-carbon industries like offshore wind can intersect with industries associated with heavy emissions like steel.
In 2001after more than a century of operation, including armour plate manufacture during the Second World War, Bethlehem Steel filed for bankruptcy. It became the 25th American steelmaking company in the span of four years (1998-2001) to file for bankruptcy protection.[24] In 2003, the company was dissolved with its remaining assets, including six plants, acquired by the International Steel Group. International Steel Group, in turn, was acquired by Mittal Steel in 2005, which then merged with Arcelor to become ArcelorMittal in 2006.
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