The Equinor-BP joint venture (JV) developing the 2.1GW Empire Wind 1 & 2 for the US state of New York has signed up Belgian maritime contractor DEME for transportation and installation of its inter-array cables.
The deal valued at between $165m-$318m will have DEME lay some 220 miles (350km) of 65kV inter-array cables connecting Empire Wind’s 147 turbines.
“DEME’s excellent track record and ability to successfully execute large-scale cable projects safely and efficiently, combined with our robust technical solution for the Empire Wind projects, are the key factors for our success with the award of this contract,” said Sid Florey, president of DEME offshore US.
DEME has landed a series of big-ticket construction jobs in the rapidly emerging US Atlantic wind play. These include installation work at the
800MW Vineyard Wind 1 off Massachusetts, the country’s first utility-scale development, and the
132MW South Fork, off Long Island, New York, both expected to begin construction in 2023.
The contractor has also teamed up with Italian cable maker Prysmian for the $1.9bn
balance of plant contract for Dominion Energy’s 2.6GW Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project.
The
Empire projects were issued their draft environmental impact statements in November and are expected to receive the federal government’s ROD [record of decision] next May, paving the way for the project to begin onshore construction and offshore export cable laying in 2024. Empire Wind 1 is slated to begin commercial operations in December 2026, followed by Empire Wind 2 in 2027.
The installation will be done in two campaigns starting in the second quarter of 2025, with DEME readying its two state-of-the-art cable laying vessels, Living Stone and Viking Neptun, for the work. Cable laying vessels are exempt from cabotage law that generally forbids commercial vessels from making consecutive calls at US ports or points on the outer continental shelf.
The developers have not identified which cable maker will provide the inter-array lines for the project located some 20 miles (33km) south of Long Island, New York.
The Empire JV has already announced that French manufacturer Nexans will provide the project’s two 230kV high voltage alternating current (HVAC) export cables from both its
Charleston, South Carolina plant as well as one in Halden, Norway.
This is the latest in a series of investments made by the Equinor-led JV.
Empire Wind has committed to an over
$250m offshore wind-ready upgrade to transform the SBMT into the centre of not only the Empire Wind but also the
1.23GW Beacon Wind project awarded its offtake contract in New York’s round 2 tender in 2020. The state is legally mandated to procure 9GW of offshore wind by 2035 but is looking at further goals that might exceed 20GW.
