March 28, 2024
Annapolis, US 47 F

Offshore wind energy firm, Deepwater Wind opening new Annapolis office

Deepwater Wind is expanding its footprint in Maryland by opening a project office in Annapolis and adding top construction, engineering, design, and compliance experts to its Maryland team in support of the Skipjack Wind Farm.

Deepwater Wind’s growing Maryland team will be based at the company’s new project office at Park Place in Annapolis. This will be Deepwater Wind’s first office in Maryland and is strategically located between operations sites on the lower eastern shore and maritime facilities in the Greater Baltimore area.

Deepwater Wind has named the following to its Skipjack project team:

Prem Pereira serves as Deepwater Wind’s Project Construction Director for the Skipjack Wind Farm and is responsible for managing project-related construction activities. He joins Deepwater Wind after more than 15 years of offshore industry experience, most recently serving as Engineering Project Manager for TechnipFMC with projects and experience spanning offshore, onshore and subsea oil and gas covering design through construction. His last project involved the completion of construction activities on the world’s largest floating spar off the Norwegian coast. Prem graduated from Texas A&M University with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering Technologies. He is an 11-year veteran of the U.S. Army and earned the Bronze Star for exceptional service during his deployment in Iraq.

Zach Finucane serves as Foundations Package Manager for Deepwater Wind, where he is responsible for managing the design, fabrication, and installation of the structures that support the wind turbines. Prior to joining Deepwater Wind, Zach was a Structural Engineer and Project Manager at Keystone Engineering, where he led the design team for Deepwater Wind’s Block Island Wind Farm, America’s first offshore wind farm. Zach earned a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Tulane University and is a licensed Professional Engineer in Maryland.

Peter Lee serves as Project Engineer for Deepwater Wind, where he supports the design, fabrication, and installation of wind farm foundation structures. Prior to joining Deepwater Wind, Peter served as Field Engineer and Naval Architect for TechnipFMC throughout the design and construction phases of the world’s largest spar platform. Peter earned a B.S. in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering from Webb Institute and a M.S. in Offshore Engineering from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands.

Maryland native Kate Bohanan serves as Compliance Manager for Deepwater Wind, where she monitors supplier diversity and reporting. She previously served as a Program Manager at the Chesapeake Conservancy, where she led a multi-stakeholder partnership dedicated to land conservation and protecting sensitive habitat. Kate earned a B.S. in Finance from the University of Maryland and a Master’s in Public Administration from the Evans School of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Washington.

Steven Simkins serves as Project Engineer after interning for Deepwater Wind each summer dating back to 2015. Steven was an instrumental member of the engineering team for both the Block Island Wind Farm and South Fork Wind Farm off the coast of Long Island, N.Y. He graduated in May with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

“We are thrilled to open our first Maryland office in Annapolis,” said Deepwater Wind CEO Jeffrey Grybowski. “We are planning significant investments in operations, maintenance, and fabrication facilities from Ocean City to Baltimore, and Annapolis gives our team convenient access to each region. Building a world-class offshore wind farm also requires a world-class team of professionals. We are honored to have Prem, Zach, Peter, Steven, and Kate join our team and help us bring low-cost, renewable energy to Maryland residents.”

The new hires join Joy Weber, Development Manager for the Skipjack Wind Farm.

The new office and expanded team come as Deepwater Wind conducts a multi-million dollar geophysical and geotechnical ocean floor survey as part of the offshore wind farm’s development.

Skipjack Wind Farm is the smaller of the two projects planned in Maryland will help to secure Maryland’s position as a leader in the fast-growing American offshore wind industry.  It will be located in the ocean waters northeast of Ocean City, Md., 19.5 miles away from the Maryland-Delaware border. At that distance, Skipjack is the best offshore wind option to minimize visual impacts from the Ocean City shoreline.

Deepwater Wind plans to invest roughly $200 million in Maryland during Skipjack’s construction, including $25 million for a new steel fabrication facility and $13 million for ports in the Greater Baltimore area. The company also plans to establish the project’s permanent Operations and Maintenance facility in the greater Ocean City area, creating jobs over the project’s 25-year life. Deepwater Wind is committed to the creation of 1,400 direct jobs for Skipjack Wind Farm over the project’s life.

In May 2017, the Maryland Public Service Commission designated the Skipjack Wind Farm a “Qualified Offshore Wind Project.”

Deepwater Wind is also in the execution stage for its South Fork Wind Farm, a 15-turbine offshore wind farm serving Long Island, N.Y., that’s targeted to be in-service by the end of 2022. The company is also developing Revolution Wind off the coast of New England to serve Rhode Island and Connecticut.

Deepwater Wind is America’s leading offshore wind developer and the only company operating an offshore wind farm in the United States. The Company is actively planning offshore wind projects to serve multiple East Coast markets located 15 or more miles offshore, including Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island.The Company’s Block Island Wind Farm is America’s first offshore wind farm. Visit www.dwwind.com for more info.

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