Two years ago Rep. Adrian Madaro and a group of elected officials toured Blue Atlantic Fabricators’s 20,000-square-foot manufacturing facility at the Boston Shipyard and Marina on Marginal Street in East Boston.
As more and more waterfront parcels are zoned out of Designated Port Areas (DPA) to make way for luxury housing in Boston, Blue Atlantic General Manager Michael Julian has been trying to remain a viable employer in East Boston.
During the tour Julian pointed out to Madaro and others that the Blue Atlantic facility located on the waterfront with deep water and heavy tonnage berthing access, makes it ideally positioned to provide structural steel components to the emerging U.S. offshore wind industry.
With 15 skilled employees Julian’s company is doing work on around 1,500 tons of steel material each year but with the emerging offshore wind industry Blue Atlantic is poised to expand.
“Being in a DPA is very important to this endeavor,” said Julian at the time. “I can easily see us growing to around 60 to 70 employees if we are able to get some of this wind construction work. I can tell you our employees can handle a good amount of that work in this facility.”
This week, in an effort to meet the Commonwealth’s climate goals of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, the House passed legislation to further develop the offshore wind industry in Massachusetts.
“The future of energy in Massachusetts is renewable, and offshore wind provides one of the best paths forward to meet our energy needs,” said Madaro, who cosponsored the bill. “I was happy to vote in favor of this bill, strengthening our offshore wind industry while improving our electrical grid, developing our economy with new green jobs, and meeting our climate resiliency goals”.
Blue Atlantic has already been building A-Frames for its offshore division and the new bill could be a great opportunity to get some work from the emerging offshore wind industry.
The new bill makes the Massachusetts offshore wind bidding process more competitive by removing a current price cap that requires bids to be less expensive than previous procurements that has deterred companies from participating in the procurement process. Madaro said future procurements would now include economic development, employment, and environmental and fisheries mitigation benefits.
The bill would also invest hundreds of millions of dollars over the next decade in infrastructure, innovation, job training, supply chain capacity, and transmission upgrades.
The only downside to Blue Atlantic’s growing business is the lack of skilled workers. Blue Atlantic has been increasing the company’s profile at job fairs and local trade schools with the goal of showing high school and trade school students that there is a career in working with their hands.
Julian noted most of his 15 employees are making $50,000 or more a year with benefits like health insurance and retirement.
A highlight of the new house bill would create a DESE high school offshore wind credential training pilot program through which DESE would reimburse school districts for each student that obtains the credential.