In a major developement, international consulting group COWI announced it plan to increase its presence in the USA significantly with the consultancy contract with Vineyard Wind in Massachusetts – the first major US offshore wind energy project.
The Denmark-based specialist in engineering, environmental science and economics said in a release that the project is part of a masterplan to construct 10 GW offshore wind farms.
The next seven years will see 10 GW offshore wind farms be developed on the northern East Coast – including Massachusetts, New York State, Connecticut, New Jersey and Maryland.
The first major offshore wind farm project is the Vineyard Wind project, which in phase 1 will generate 800 MW for Massachusetts. Vineyard Wind awarded COWI the consultancy contract for parts of the project.
Consequently, COWI is expanding its competencies in Boston by extending its current premises and increasing the staff.
The extension aims to support the Vineyard Wind project and to meet the demand for renewable energy on the US market. COWI expects to increase the staff from the current two employees at the Boston office to expected 80 -100 specialists within wind energy within approx. 3 years.
"We're well positioned to meet the demand, thanks to the competencies that we've built in Denmark for the past 20 years. Now, we go where the market and our customers are. To that end, we're building competencies and adding new staff to our Boston office, which boasts a central location in terms of existing and future projects," says Jan Behrendt Ibsø, VP of Wind Energy and Renewables with COWI.