BETHANY BEACH, Del.- Bidding for the Skipjack Wind Farm Project could happen in the fall, so Orsted, the energy company in charge of the project hosted a supplier day. This was an opportunity for local businesses to meet with the potential bidders, to help localize jobs for this project. As Orsted gets closer to building the interconnection facility on Fenwick Island, they wanted to get some names of potential bidders to the public. Local businesses were able to network and talk to those Tier one companies face-to-face in an area just miles away from the actual site in Fenwick Island. Orsted says they want to create local jobs as they dive into this project. Tony Appleton, with a tier one engineering and construction company, Burns & McDonnell said, "The industry needs to be sustainable, so the only way it's going to be sustainable is if you engage the local supply chain.  As Orsted gets closer to finalizing this project to bring renewable energy to Delmarva, they are looking at potential bidders. That's why the company hosted a Supplier Day. Once the work gets going, and the wind farms get put in place, the company wants to localize as many jobs as possible.  Matt Drew, with Orsted said, "It's a great opportunity for the large tier one EPC contractors that we've invited to bid on our project to meet local businesses so that they can bring local businesses into their contracts that they're going to be performing for Orsted." The day consisted of speeches from four potential bidders, and information from Orsted about the overall project. As the big name players gather their pitches, today was important to hear from the local businesses so they can make an impact as well.  Tony Marenco, a local Delmarva contractor with Battaglia said, "It definitely helped by seeing faces, them presenting to us, knowing who the players are, what's involved and giving us this opportunity to network is huge." And the big name players say no one knows the areas better than the people who serve Delmarva.Â
"Because we find that's the best way that local knowledge, that local content, that local understanding of what's happening. You know the local requirements, you know the road network, the infrastructure network these guys, the local guys knows all of that and we don't have to go through that learning curve," Appleton said. After the tier one EPC companies were done giving their presentation a networking session was able to take place. Local businesses say that this is important because it can localize the project and bring it closer to home. Marenco said, "A lot of larger projects for whatever reason, larger companies come in, they don't seem to encourage this kind of activity. This is, this is huge for them to want to bring in the local contractors." Orsted says that's not the only benefit. "For some of the economic benefits quite frankly are the project as well. And create jobs centered around our project here in the community," Drew said. Orsted says they don't have a date set for the next supplier day. The company says to find out upcoming dates when they are released you can visit skipjackwindfarm.com. The energy supplier says to expect the next event to be in the spring.
