US Company Plans to Produce ‘100% Made in USA’ Offshore Wind Turbine Towers from 2026

February 8, 2024, by Adrijana Buljan

US company US Forged Rings has revealed plans for an offshore wind turbine tower fabrication facility that would be operational in 2026 and a steel forging plant that would go into operation the following year. The company, which will invest USD 700 million into the two new facilities on the US East Coast, says it is in the final stages of evaluating locations with a decision expected soon.

Construction work on the two co-located facilities will take 16-20 months after all permits and regulatory approvals are secured, with the first towers expected to be rolled out in early 2026. According to information on USFR’s website, commercial production at the steel forging plant is planned to start by the first quarter of 2027.

“We are currently in the final stages of evaluating several potential locations on the East Coast,” said Slavko Zurovac, USFR’s Managing Director. “All potential sites are strategically positioned with access to required waterways, rail, and utilities, providing significant logistical benefits and making it competitive to supply large components.”

The Delaware-based company says it is committed to producing final products that are 100 per cent made in the US through its strategic supply chain partnerships with the US steel producer and recycler Nucor and ingot caster Ellwood Quality Steels.

The tower fabrication facility will have the capacity to produce 100 fully coated towers annually and is designed to be expandable to produce up to 200 towers per year, depending on demand. As the tower production will include internally produced flanges, USFR can ensure avoiding potential delays and logistics issues in this regard, lowering the overall cost, according to a press release from the company.

For the new steel forging facility, which will produce large flanges up to 40 feet in diameter, USFR says this will be the largest ring rolling facility in North America and Europe. On its website, the company states the forging facility will have sufficient capacity to support not only USFR’s tower production but also that of other tower manufacturers in the US, both for onshore and offshore.

The two new facilities are said to create more than 500 full-time jobs and also limit carbon footprint by utilising 77 per cent recycled content.

According to US Forged Rings, the company’s new manufacturing facilities will fill a critical supply chain gap for offshore wind components and alleviate bottlenecks in the US market as the country moves forward with plans to install 30 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030 and 110 GW by 2050.

“This substantial investment serving U.S. offshore wind was spurred by our confidence in the medium and long-term prospects of the U.S. market, which is in its early phases of development and needs a local supply chain to rely on,” said Giacomo Sozzi, President of USFR.

“These facilities will enable U.S. developers and OEMs to have predictable costs and a reliable supply of vital components. Equally important, the investment will result in direct environmental benefits including the reduction of significant pollution emitted by otherwise shipping these huge components from overseas.”