U.S. Jones Act Compliant Offshore Wind Turbine Installation Vessel Study

This report examines the functional requirements and costs of constructing purpose-built vessels that would comply with the U.S. Jones Act and meet the needs of the U.S. offshore wind industry. The Jones Act requires any vessel transporting cargo between U.S. ports, or between U.S. ports and offshore facilities, be built and flagged in the U.S. The study presents designs for two Jones Act compliant vessel options: a wind turbine installation vessel and a feeder barge. Estimating packages were sent to multiple U.S. shipyards and indicative prices of $222 million for the wind turbine installation vessel and $87 million for feeder barge were received. Using the cost data, a business model was created that showed 10-years of work, or a pipeline of approximately 3,500 to 4,000 megawatts of offshore wind capacity (roughly equivalent to the expected low regional offshore wind deployment trajectory), would provide the owner of a wind turbine installation vessel with a reasonable rate of return.

This report is one in a series of three reports which were produced for representatives of the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC), the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources, the New York State Energy Research Development Authority (NYSERDA), the Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources, and the Clean Energy States Alliance, as part of the Roadmap Project for Multi-State Cooperation on Offshore Wind Development.