Avondale Global Gateway hosted industry leaders from the International Partnering Forum in New Orleans, who crossed the Mississippi River April 22 to visit the historic shipyard, now reinventing as a South Louisiana hub for offshore wind energy.
AGG showed off its capabilities to visitors from the Oceantic Network’s annual conference, and later this week will host delegations from Germany, the United Kingdom and the Norwegian embassy “to display how Avondale Global Gateway is creating an environment to support Louisiana’s nascent offshore wind industry,” according to Avondale officials.
“This week’s wind conference is testament to Louisiana’s position as a key player in America’s growing wind energy industry. We are proud to display the benefits of doing business in our state to the dozens of worldwide business leaders who visited Avondale Global Gateway,” said Adam Anderson, chairman and CEO of HOST, the maritime services, terminal operations, stevedoring and marine assets company that acquired the Avondale property in 2018.
“As we’ve seen both overseas and in the Northeast U.S., the offshore wind industry requires substantial amounts of high-load-bearing capacity port infrastructure to manage the transportation and handling of these massive components,” said Anderson. “Our team has experience handling the largest onshore wind components and working with Gulf Wind Technology on-site to develop solutions for the offshore market. We are excited to see what the future holds for this cutting-edge company and wind energy in Louisiana.”
Over 50 IPF participants saw offshore wind research and innovation occurring at AGG led by Gulf Wind Technology and the logistics capabilities made possible by the Mississippi River. AGG has been engaged in importing onshore wind components since 2021, reloading turbine equipment onto barges for transport up the Mississippi River to onshore turbine arrays in the Midwest states.
In 2023, Gulf Wind Technology became a tenant at AGG with the aim of launching Louisiana’s offshore wind industry. With its location at Avondale Global Gateway, GWT and similar companies can manufacture wind components at AGG then barge them down the Mississippi River to be deployed in the Gulf of Mexico through Port Fourchon.
“New Orleans and the state of Louisiana plays a key role in America’s offshore energy industry and serves as a perfect location for IPF this year, as the Gulf of Mexico continues to bolster the domestic offshore wind supply chain,” said Liz Burdock, founder and CEO of Oceantic Network.
“Companies along the Gulf Coast are already hard at work building America’s next energy industry and moving to integrate new technologies like green hydrogen into offshore wind. Embracing its offshore energy past and incorporating the future of offshore wind, New Orleans and the state of Louisiana are emerging as a center of experience, expertise, innovation, and heart of this new industry.”
AGG advertises itself as “well positioned to become a hub for offshore wind in the Gulf of Mexico, due to the all-encompassing unique value the property provides as well as the proximity to the experienced offshore workforce in the Gulf of Mexico. The property is ideal for importing large offshore wind components, storage, sub-assembly and on-site manufacturing and fabrication prior to loading offshore wind turbine components out on barges for installation in the Gulf.”
“We are thrilled to welcome the largest offshore wind energy conference in the Americas to our facility at Avondale Global Gateway,” said James Martin, Gulf Wind Technology CEO. “It is incredible that industry experts from around the world are coming to share ideas and learn about the advanced scientific work happening right here in Louisiana.”
AGG’s location on the Mississippi has over one mile of deep riverfront and five docks, four gantry heavy lift cranes with up to 350 tons capacity, and dual pick capabilities, 1.2 million square feet of warehouse space, and hundreds of acres of lay down storage space.
