The offshore wind power business is booming, and its effects reach all the way to the Blount Boats shipyard on Water Street.

Armed with a new state grant that will help get the process started, Blount officials plan to significantly expand their operation over the coming two to three years. When they do, their capacity to supply tough aluminum catamarans to offshore windfarms service them when needed, will double.

Along the way, Blount Boats President Marcia Blount believes the company’s workforce also has the potential to double, from its current 50 employees to 100.

“We were astonished and thrilled,” Ms. Blount said Wednesday, to learn recently that Blount has been approved for a $75,000 state grant which will help them complete their master plan and start the administrative process required before building can begin.

The Site Readiness Grant, awarded by the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation, will not go toward building costs. Instead, it will help develop the plans needed, and go through town and CRMC approval processes, prior to building.

“It’s going to be a big help paying for design fees (and) helping get our master plan ready for the approval process,” she said.

Blount’s expansion plan is two-pronged:

Sprawling over six acres, the shipyard currently has the capacity to build two one large wind farm tender at a time. Since the boats are aluminum, they must be built under cover. One part of the plan involves building an addition to and renovating the operation’s small hull shop facing Water Street.

“With all this new covered space we can double the number of boats we build concurrently to four,” she said.

Secondly, the work includes renovating existing docks and putting in two new finger piers on the south side of the property. These piers will support a travel lift that will be capable of picking all sizes of the beamy catamarans out of the water for maintenance.

“We are not only going to be building these boats, but maintaining the fleets that we are going to build,” she said.

There is plenty of opportunity, she said. Offshore wind farm leases are being brought up and down the East Coast. And while nondisclosure agreements bar her from talking about companies with whom Blount is doing business, she said there is a lot of interest in the company’s products. There are currently two boats under construction in the large hull shop, and Blount recently landed a contract for two more.

The hope is to have the improvements in place in two to three years, but “it depends on how many contracts we get. If we get multiple contracts we’ll move faster.”

“We are getting a lot of inquiries.”