Governor Healey, partners break ground on Salem Offshore Wind Terminal; officials tout jobs and infrastructure funding

Governor Maura Healey and local and federal partners on Friday marked the start of construction at the Salem Offshore Wind Terminal, calling the project a reuse of a former coal site that will support the emerging U.S. offshore wind industry and bring jobs and infrastructure investments to the North Shore.

"This was the site of a polluting dirty coal plant. Look at the transformation," Governor Maura Healey said at the event in Salem, praising local leaders, labor partners and Crowley Wind Services for the project. She highlighted recent federal and state funding she said will turbocharge the effort, citing a multistate nearly $400 million grant (the governor cited $389,000,000) to upgrade the regional grid and a $450,000,000 EPA award aimed at boosting heat pump production.

The terminal, officials said, will host assembly and staging operations for offshore turbines destined for lease areas in the Gulf of Maine and beyond. Tom Crowley of Crowley (Crowley Corporation) said the company will operate the facility and described Crowley as "a major union employer" committed to the project's labor agreements and workforce training pathways.

"The Salem Wind Terminal will be at the heart and serve as the platform for this building effort," Tom Crowley said, adding that Crowley will support the industry's commitments to a project labor agreement to ensure union careers and safety standards.

Federal officials framed the terminal as part of a larger national push to modernize port infrastructure to accommodate offshore wind. Josh Rall, acting director of Ports and Waterways Planning for the Maritime Administration, described the department's role in awarding Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP) grants and cited the Biden-era infrastructure law as providing substantial funding for ports nationally. Rall said PIDP and other DOT programs have directed billions to ports and that federal investments support a national goal of reaching 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030.

State officials and the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center said the project aligns with state policy goals to reduce emissions and expand clean-energy jobs. Emily Reichardt, CEO of the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, said MassCEC is “pleased to be playing a part in the development of port infrastructure in Salem” that will give Massachusetts additional capacity to lead the U.S. offshore wind sector.

Mayor Dominic Pangalo framed the terminal as part of Salem's maritime legacy and pointed to local climate impacts — including an early-year king tide that damaged a seawall and flooded neighborhoods near the site — as part of the rationale for shifting from fossil infrastructure to clean-energy uses.

Officials said the terminal is expected to generate construction and maritime jobs, create apprenticeship and training opportunities tied to a project labor agreement and support regional supply chains for offshore wind assembly and deployment. No formal vote or permitting action was announced at the ceremony; event speakers moved the program to additional presentations after closing remarks.

The ground-breaking event continued with additional presentations from labor and community partners and federal agency officials.