Groton company gets spotlight for connection to offshore wind

The Day; April 24, 2021

New London — It’s called the ThayerCat, a catamaran-style power boat being converted into an autonomous unmanned marine vessel that can do things like monitor marine mammals and help mitigate noise during construction of offshore wind turbine platforms.

That was one of several innovative projects on display during a tour of Groton-based ThayerMahan on Friday, a 5-year-old company that U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, called “one of the most exciting new companies in the state of Connecticut.”

ThayerMahan is also a company that stands to benefit from the reinvigoration of the offshore wind industry under President Joe Biden. Biden’s administration has said it plans to accelerate permitting and boost financing for offshore wind farms.

ThayerMahan is performing high-tech seabed surveillance work with cutting-edge technology and recently was selected to receive a share of the $8 million made available by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Offshore Wind Research and Development Consortium for its work with undersea cables, a project that could help reduce impacts on the ocean environment of work proposed by the offshore wind industry.

Courtney was joined on Friday’s visit by ThayerMahan CEO Mike Connor, Ørsted Offshore North America CEO David Hardy and others to talk about opportunities in clean energy manufacturing, particularly connected to the offshore wind industry.

ThayerMahan is contracted to perform work for Ørsted, the company that has joined with Eversource in development of several offshore wind farms and contributing more than $77.5 million toward the modernization of State Pier in New London.

Connor said the Groton company, which performs some work for the government, sea bed surveys and underwater infrastructure inspections, works with the submarine and shipbuilding community and expects ongoing maintenance work associated with marine projects to ensure environmental compliance as well as marine mammal safety.  MORE>>>

 
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