Mayflower Wind Signs MOU with Massachusetts and Rhode Island Building Trades for Offshore Wind Workforce Development

Mayflower Wind, the developer of an offshore wind energy lease area located off the coast of Massachusetts, today announced it signed a Memorandum of Understanding with North America’s Building Trades Unions and the United Brotherhood of Carpenters, together referred to as the Building Trades, regarding the onshore and offshore construction work for its 1200 MW SouthCoast Project. The MOU includes commitments to create jobs for local and diverse workers and to comply with the labor requirements of the Inflation Reduction Act, including paying prevailing wages and utilizing apprentices.

“A talented, well-trained and unionized workforce will be instrumental in helping to safely build our SouthCoast Project,” said Michael Brown, CEO, Mayflower Wind. “We look forward to working with the Building Trades to create clean energy jobs for workers in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.”

“The benefits created for working people when industry and labor work collaboratively are enormous,” said Sean McGarvey, president of NABTU. “We look forward to becoming an important partner on the Mayflower Wind SouthCoast Project to help build a vibrant and sustainable offshore wind industry. Our partnership will grow the economy in New England and create thousands of clean energy focused middle-class jobs with high-skilled training pathway programs for workers from all backgrounds.” 

“This critical new partnership between Mayflower and our building trades unions is another example of the types of important opportunities that are coming downwind,” said U.S. Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass). “I applaud Mayflower, NABTU and the Carpenters for committing to this agreement that will supercharge our economy and the offshore wind industry, build good-paying jobs for union workers, benefit communities across the Commonwealth, and spark the clean energy revolution.”

“The highly trained men and women of Massachusetts Building Trades Unions are the most qualified workforce to perform the onshore and offshore work on Mayflower Wind’s SouthCoast project,” said Frank Callahan, President of MBTU. “This partnership will enhance our efforts to provide highly skilled, good paying career opportunities for a diverse local workforce and secure a strong future for the offshore wind industry.”

“Accelerating the transition of our South Coast economy into an emerging hub for the growing offshore wind industry represents a tremendous economic opportunity for local workers,” said State Senator Michael J. Rodrigues (D-Westport, 1st Bristol & Plymouth District), Chair of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means. “The industry demands highly skilled and well-paid construction professionals, and with the today’s announcement, we further strengthen our region’s partnership with offshore wind industry, ensuring labor unions and people of the South Coast are the ones to get the job done as we work to create high-quality, good paying jobs and deliver significant economic and environmental benefits to our communities and our region.”

Mayflower Wind’s full offshore wind lease area has a capacity of 2400 MW – enough electricity to power more than 1 million homes and businesses and will create some 27,000 jobs over its lifetime. They expect to deliver the first 1200 MW of power by the end of this decade and have committed that power to several of Massachusetts’ largest public utilities. That project, known as the SouthCoast project, will connect to the electric grid at Brayton Point in Somerset, MA, the once-home of the region’s largest coal plant.

“Clean energy jobs are the future and represent an enormous growth sector in our economy,” said Brown. “As we expand the offshore wind industry’s skilled workforce and build out a robust domestic supply chain for offshore wind, we will see the region’s economy strengthen while helping to combat the impacts of climate change.”