A delegation from the Netherlands made a stop in New London Friday. The delegation of 20 included representatives from the offshore wind industry in the Netherlands.
The leader of the group, Bob Meijer, referred to them as the Dutch Innovation Delegation and said collaboration was the overall goal of this trip.
“To basically reach out and see if we can cooperate in various developments. That could be research and sharing knowledge. There’s a world of knowledge in areas that we don’t have knowledge about and vice versa," Meijer, who is also with TKI Offshore Energy, said.
As Connecticut continues to position itself as a leader in the offshore wind sector in the United States, officials with the Connecticut Wind Collaborative, which organized the event, said the goal now is to improve.
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They believe that can be achieved through collaborating with the Dutch, who have more experience with wind farms.
“It’s a little bit ironic that we are welcoming the people who really designed and built, probably the first windmill in the world, back in, I was just told the 1600s, perhaps,” Tony Sheridan, president of the Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut, said.
Andrew Lavigne, manager of the Clean Economy Program with the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development and vice-chair of the Connecticut Wind Collaboration, said this was also an opportunity for Connecticut to show the new specs at the State Pier and the work that has been accomplished right here in Connecticut.
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“We’re really excited to show off the critical asset that we’ve invested in here in New London and to show our counterparts from the Netherlands that we know what it’s like to innovate,” Lavigne stated.
Workers at the State Pier in New London are continuing to assemble gigantic wind turbines that will be sent by barge to the offshore location that will be home to Connecticut’s first wind farm.
Lavigne said that five of the 64 turbines have already been completed and sent to the location.
In January, the parts to build wind turbines arrived to the State Pier on a barge the size of a football field.
Then in July, a large vessel from Denmark called Sycilla arrived in New London to help install turbines for the farm. The farm will sit on an offshore location about 35 miles from Connecticut's coast.
Meijer said wind farms can be extremely beneficial.
In the Netherlands, wind turbines can contribute more than 50% of the power needed for homes, at times, he said.
“It generates clean power. It is also combatting climate change. It also creates a new economy. More jobs, more economic opportunities,” he explained.
Those benefits will come to Connecticut and Rhode Island once the wind farm is in service.
CWC said the wind farm is expected to supply enough clean energy for more than 350,000 homes.
