The Biden administration projects this undertaking will employ more than 44,000 workers in offshore wind by 2030 and nearly 33,000 additional jobs in communities supported by offshore wind activity. I’m excited that hundreds of those jobs stand to be created here in southeastern Connecticut and that the port of New London could be a major player. It is ideally situated. Connecticut owns State Pier. Any permanent structures or apparatus constructed there will become property of the state. It will still be a state facility when the wind-turbine projects end, but one that will be able to handle much larger, heavier, and more diverse cargo. The Ørsted/Eversource partnership will be subsidizing at least $70 million of the cost of these improvements. In addition, Gateway, as part of the deal that led to the port authority awarding it the contract as terminal operator, is committed to investing another $30 million in capital improvements, like cranes. Could Connecticut and the port authority have gotten a better deal? Maybe. But the deal at hand has major corporations contributing towards redeveloping State Pier to make New London a hub for tackling the biggest challenge of our age — climate change — and in the process creating a vastly better port facility.
https://www.theday.com/columnists/20210411/offshore-wind-energy-plans-brighten-state-piers-future