Maritime vessel management company Crowley and energy service company Avangrid, along with the City of Salem, will hold a public meeting on Zoom Wednesday at 6:00 p.m. to discuss construction of The Salem Offshore Wind Terminal.
The terminal, which will be built adjacent to the Salem Harbor Power Station, the city’s first gas-fired power plant, will store, assemble, and distribute wind turbine components. The project, likely to begin construction in the Fall, will be funded through the state’s $1.7 billion supplemental budget, $45 million of which was directed to Salem for port development.
Wednesday’s meeting will include a presentation of the project’s timeline and construction process, along with a question-and-answer session for the public.
“The project is anticipated to create hundreds of clean energy jobs, improve Salem’s historic port, and lead the way in the fight to reduce carbon emissions in communities across the Commonwealth,” Crowley said in a statement.
On Friday, January 28, Mayor Kimberley Driscoll, along with State lawmakers, led a tour of the 42-acre project site. Driscoll said in January that she saw the project as an asset for Salem, and for the eastern seaboard in general.
“We think it’s an amazing opportunity for our city, our region and frankly our commonwealth and our country to have a clean energy base in Salem,” Driscoll said. “Offshore wind is something that the eastern seaboard is looking at and we are fortunate to have the right amenities.”
At the same January tour, State Senator Joan Lovely (D) of Salem said she was looking forward to seeing the terminal being built to offer more wind energy to consumers across the state and help create new jobs focused on wind-farm production.
“As the president said, this will help with job production,” Lovely said. “It will help with jobs and help make a cleaner earth.”
Those interested in attending the meeting can pre-register online at www.salem.com/oswmeeting.