Two Louisiana firms whose expertise lies in the design and construction of platforms for the oil and gas industry have found their business dovetails nicely in an unexpected area: offshore renewable energy.
Keystone Engineering of Mandeville, LA, has created a patented Inward Battered Guide Structure (IBGS) design that uses a “twisted jacket” configuration: three legs twisted around a central column, which makes it not only easier and less expensive to build, these 400-ton steel jackets are also easier to install, and, in an unprecedented test of their strength, their IBGS structures withstood a direct hit by the winds of Hurricane Katrina. The turbines for newly-initiated 30 megawatt Deepwater Wind Block Island project, off the coast of Rhode Island, are mounted on IBGS foundations attached to the seabed.
Gulf Island Fabrication, of Houma, LA, which actually built the Keystone Engineering IBGS designs for Deepwater Wind, found that the same concepts they use to build offshore drilling and production platforms have come into play, with a few minor modifications, for the offshore wind turbine foundations. Gulf Island’s facilities were ideally suited for the fabrication then transportation of the IBGS foundations from the Gulf of Mexico and up the Atlantic coast to the Deepwater Wind site 3 miles off the coast of Rhode Island.
These companies have show the ingenuity and adaptation needed in today’s diverse economy, showing what “Made in America” is all about.
For more information on the Department of Interior and #MadeInAmericaWeek go to: www.doi.gov/blog/made-america-12-things-brought-you-interior-department