Oceantic Network member company LS GreenLink USA has broken ground on its new $700m subsea cable facility in Chesapeake, Virginia.
The subsea cable manufacturing facility is a first in the United States for Korean-based LS Cable & System and is expected to be operational in 2028.
The 98-acre facility will support 330 permanent, full-time jobs and produce next generation high-voltage direct current (HVDC) cables used to transport power from offshore wind turbines to the onshore power grid.
Oceantic said it represents a substantial investment in the American supply chain that will supply submarine power cables for domestic and international offshore wind projects for a projected global capacity of more than 380GW of offshore wind by 2030.
Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, Virginia Secretary of Commerce and Trade Juan Pablo Segura, Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), Chesapeake Mayor Richard West, and other officials and industry leaders attended the groundbreaking ceremony.
The event took place on the first day of Oceantic Network’s 2025 International Partnering Forum (IPF), the largest offshore renewable energy conference in the Americas.
President and chief executive of Oceantic Network Liz Burdock said the groundbreaking “marks a pivotal moment for Virginia and America’s national offshore wind supply chain”.
She added: “This $700m investment is a testament to the global industry’s commitment to the US market, creating hundreds of long-term American jobs and manufacturing American-made energy components for the pipeline of domestic and international offshore wind projects.
“Thanks to the leadership of Dominion Energy, support from Governor Youngkin and other elected officials, and cornerstone supply chain investments like this, Virginia is rapidly emerging as a premier offshore wind hub in the US.”