Federal grant to boost offshore wind production facility in Sparrows Point in Baltimore County

A federal grant will help grow wind farms in Maryland.

Sparrows Point Steel in Baltimore County won a $47 million grant from the U.S. Maritime Administration for its offshore wind manufacturing facility.

“We are working hard to bring offshore wind energy to Maryland and this award gives a much-needed boost to our efforts to establish an offshore wind supply chain right here in Baltimore,” Sparrows Point Steel CEO Jeff Grybowski said in a news release. “Together we aim to make Maryland a hub of offshore wind logistics and manufacturing in the U.S.”

Sparrows Point Steel is owned and operated by Baltimore-based US Wind and sits on nearly 100 waterfront acres at Tradepoint Atlantic, a 3,300-acre industrial center and logistics hub in Sparrows Point. The site was once home to Bethlehem Steel, formerly the largest steel production facility in the world.

The facility will manufacture monopile foundations and towers, the bases of wind turbines, to be transported to offshore wind projects in Maryland and along the East Coast, according to a news release. The company’s facility will have a marshaling port to stage, load and ship heavy materials for other offshore wind project developers.

US Wind first announced the creation of Sparrows Point Steel and the offshore wind production facility in August 2021, calling it the state’s first permanent offshore wind component factory. US Wind holds the federal lease rights to about 80,000 acres about 20 miles off the coast of Ocean City where turbines will start generating clean energy in 2025, according to the company.

In March 2023, US Wind said it had started a “long-term partnership” with Haizea Wind Group Management S.L. to manage and operate Sparrows Point Steel. The company also operates offshore wind production facilities in Argentina, Spain and France.