October 31, 2018 — Visitors from the United Kingdom had clear lessons about offshore wind to share with the SouthCoast on Tuesday during an all-day symposium in New Bedford.
In the early days of the UK industry, communities in the Humber region were trying to figure out what kind of jobs they would get, said Mark O’Reilly, chairman and CEO of Team Humber Marine Alliance, a nonprofit business group based in East Yorkshire. Would it be welders? Fabricators?
The region got a blade factory that created 1,000 jobs, “which is great for jobs, not necessarily fantastic for supply chain. But you can’t have it all,” he said.
Because the UK is geographically close to established suppliers in Denmark and Germany, some of the hoped-for supply business did not materialize. New Bedford, in contrast, has the opportunity to position itself as the heart of the U.S. supply chain, one UK visitor said from the audience.
“Don’t squander it,” he said.
The symposium at the New Bedford Whaling Museum was hosted by the British Consulate-General in Boston, Bristol Community College, the city of New Bedford, and the New Bedford Wind Energy Center.
Harriet Cross, British consul general to New England, gave welcoming remarks. Speakers participated from England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, as well as from Massachusetts.
In a panel discussion on fishing, UK fisherman Davey Hill said he once led the charge against wind farms. “But I came quickly to realize that government policy doesn’t listen to fishermen,” he said.
With less space for turbines than the United States, the UK chose locations based on winds and water depth. Fishermen had no say, he said. But they decided to look for opportunities.
Today, some vessels serve as work boats for offshore wind, and also go out fishing. The process has benefited the fishing community because they have modernized their vessels and improved safety, Hill said.
Eric Hansen, a New Bedford scallop boat owner whose family has fished for generations, said unequivocally that vessels the size of those in the New Bedford fleet would not fish between turbines spaced 1.5 or even three miles apart. Showing the audience a radar image of a field of turbines, he said “Now, you show that picture to a fisherman, and he’d basically throw up. There’s no way they’re going to fish in that.”