Jeff Grybowski Archives

For Immediate Release: Thursday, April 12, 2018
Contact: Nicolette Nye, (202) 465-8463, nnye@nullnoia.org

Deepwater Wind Wins 2018 NOIA Safety Practice Award

Washington, D.C. – The National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA) has presented the 2018 Safety-in-Seas (SIS) Safety Practice Award to Deepwater Wind in recognition of its innovative safety practices during and after the installation of Block Island Wind Farm, our nation’s first offshore wind farm. These safety innovations include the design and use of a Crew Transfer Vessel (CTV) and a transfer/ascent/descent system using Self-Retracting Lifeline (SRL) fall-arrest technology.Jeff Grybowski, President and CEO of Deepwater Wind, accepted the award today during NOIA’s annual meeting in Washington, DC. “We are honored to receive this prestigious offshore energy industry award from NOIA,” said Grybowski. “Deepwater Wind is proud to have successfully constructed the first offshore wind farm in America, and we are equally as proud of our excellent safety record during the project’s first year of commercial operations.”

Deepwater Wind logged over 40,000 offshore person-hours without a safety incident during Block Island Wind Farm’s first year of operation.

"Deepwater Wind broke ground as the developer of America’s first offshore wind farm, and has done so again as the first renewable energy company to win the NOIA Safety in Seas Award,” said NOIA President Randall Luthi. “Safe offshore operations, both traditional and non-traditional, are essential in meeting our nation’s energy needs, and I congratulate Deepwater Wind for setting the bar for excellence in safe offshore wind operations while paving the way for the nascent U.S. offshore wind industry.”

Deepwater Wind’s award-winning entry was evaluated by an independent panel of judges from the U.S. Coast Guard, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, the Transportation Research Board, and an industry safety consultant. Aries Marine Corporation, Chevron USA-Gulf of Mexico Business Unit, Frank’s International and Talos Energy were also nominated for the 2018 safety practice award.

NOIA has held the SIS awards competition since 1978 to recognize those who contribute to improving the safety of life in the offshore energy industry. The awards are sponsored by Compass Publications, Inc.

About Deepwater Wind:
Deepwater Wind is proud to be America’s leading offshore wind developer. The company’s path breaking Block Island Wind Farm is the first in the nation. Led by a veteran management team with experience in developing complex energy projects worldwide, Deepwater Wind is making offshore wind in America a reality.Headquartered in Providence, RI, Deepwater Wind is actively planning offshore wind projects to serve multiple East Coast markets located 15 or more miles offshore, including New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maryland, New Jersey and Connecticut. Learn more at http://dwwind.com/.

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ABOUT NOIA

NOIA is the only national trade association representing all segments of the offshore industry with an interest in the exploration and production of both traditional and renewable energy resources on the nation’s outer continental shelf. NOIA’s mission is to secure reliable access and a fair regulatory and economic environment for the companies that develop the nation’s valuable offshore energy resources in an environmentally responsible manner. The NOIA membership comprises about 250 companies engaged in business activities ranging from producing to drilling, engineering to marine and air transport, offshore construction to equipment manufacture and supply, telecommunications to finance and insurance, and renewable energy.

Bloomberg | September 21, 2016 | Joe Ryan

Gulf Island Fabrication Inc. has for decades built hulking platforms to extract oil and natural gas from the seabed. With the collapse of offshore drilling, the company has turned to helping harvest another energy resource: wind.

Gulf Island built all five turbine foundations for the first U.S. offshore wind farm, which is expected to go into service in November. Oil and gas services companies worked on almost every facet of Deepwater Wind LLC’s 30-megawatt project in Rhode Island, supplying engineers, deckhands, construction vessels and decades of expertise building massive structures at sea.

The 600-foot (183-meter) turbines represent a milestone for clean energy and an opportunity for fossil fuel companies. With more U.S. offshore wind farms in the works, Gulf Island and its peers say the nascent industry offers a new source of revenue to weather the volatile oil market. Cheap crude has long been seen as a barrier to renewable energy. Now those low prices are helping the wind industry grow.

“We see offshore wind as part of our future going forward,” said Roy P. Francis, senior vice president of business development at Houston-based Gulf Island, which has fabricated components for hundreds of oil rigs. “We chased this job for seven years.”

And there will be additional jobs to chase that could provide income for engineers and builders. With construction of the Block Island project completed in August, Deepwater’s next goal is a 90-megawatt wind farm off the eastern tip of Long Island that will power more than 50,000 homes. It’s one of two federally designated areas off New York for wind energy, and Governor Andrew Cuomo has said offshore turbines are a critical part of his goal of getting 50 percent of the state’s power from renewable sources by 2030.

Read the full story here.