Posted: July 1, 2011

By Danielle Walker

danielle.walker@insidebiz.com

Offshore wind development near Hampton Roads could mean business for local manufacturers and shipbuilders, but it would also mean the area would need more workforce training - or ways to attract workers with those skills to the area.

Experts on offshore wind development gathered to discuss the industry's potential in Virginia, and the journey ahead if Hampton Roads seeks to tap into the market.

"The risk may be in attracting a workforce to do the work," said Joseph C. Barto III, founder and president of TMG Inc., a Virginia firm that provides workforce training and placement for businesses.

If the region begins projects of this magnitude, the area would have to be willing to support workforce needs for the industry, he said.

"Be careful what you ask for, because you just might get it," Barto said.

About 30 people attended the seminar, which was June 23 at the Commercial Marine Expo at the Half Moone Cruise and Celebration Center in Norfolk.

"We are talking about dropping a [workforce] the size of Newport News Shipbuilding in our footprint," said Barto, regarding the scale and skill-level of workers needed for offshore wind development.

Even major workforce development resources in the area, such as community college programs, would not "begin to approach demand" the industry would bring, he said.

"One of the things we have to do is figure out how to make the area attractive to workers across the country," Barto said.

There have been significant projects during the past year that have marked Hampton Roads as a potential area for offshore wind growth.

In January, Gamesa, a wind-energy company based in Madrid, Spain, tapped Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding in Newport News to help it develop an offshore wind turbine in Chesapeake. In February, Gamesa and Northrop Grumman, the former owner of Newport News Shipbuilding, opened an offshore wind technology center in that city.

Dan Renshaw, Gamesa USA's development director, said the turbine project in Chesapeake is a feat for Hampton Roads and his company, which has operations in Spain, China, India and the U.S., with locations planned for Brazil and the U.K.

Gamesa's three major sales sectors are in Europe, China and the U.S.

"This is the first turbine that hasn't been [developed] in Spain," Renshaw said.

"We are the fourth largest turbine manufacturer in the world," he said.

Because of the region's shoreline, as well as the land available for offshore wind development, panelists said that Hampton Roads could be a promising location for the industry.

Vance Hull, director of business development for Colonna Shipyard in Norfolk, said Hampton Roads is being evaluated as a supply chain hub for offshore wind development.

Hull chairs the supply chain committee for the Virginia Offshore Wind Coalition.

"The vessels that construct these wind farms are in Europe, so if we were to start [development] now, we would have to build our own fleet," he said, adding that this would present an opportunity for local manufacturers, like shipbuilders.

"From the shipbuilding [perspective], there's lots of golden opportunity for industries that exist here in America," Hull said. nib