DEME Wins Balance of Plant Contract for Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Project

Belgian-based DEME Offshore announced Friday that it’s U.S. subsidiary has been selected by Dominion Energy as part of a consortium for the Balance of Plan work in the construction for the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project, the largest wind farm currently planned for U.S. waters.

The subsidiary, DEME Offshore US, is part of the consortium with Italian energy cable systems provider Prysmian that was selected for the $1.1 Billion Balance of Plant (BoP) contract. The agreement is the largest offshore wind installation contract ever awarded in the U.S.

Dominion’s CVOW project is a 2.6 GW offshore wind farm to be located approximately 27 miles (43 km) off the coast of Virginia Beach, Virginia.

The BoP contract includes the transport and installation of 176 monopile transition piece foundations, three offshore substations, scour protection and the supply and installation of export and inter-array submarine cable systems, DEME said in a statement. DEME Offshore will oversee the complete offshore installation works for the foundations, substations, infield cables, as well as part of the export cables.

The work will utilize a foreign-flag ship fed by coastwise qualified feeder vessels, a strategy U.S. Government Accountability Office identified for navigating Jones Act requirements for offshore wind projects due to the lack of qualififying vessels in the United States. Monopile foundations, transition pieces, and turbine components will be staged on 72 acres at Portsmouth Marine Terminal as part of a 10-year lease agreement with the Virginia Port Authority. A U.S.-flagged vessels compliant with the Jones Act will be used to transport components from PMT to the construction site in the CVOW lease area.

The three offshore substations will weigh about 4,000 tons each and comprise a topside platform with helicopter landing pad and support structures installed in the sea floor.

For DEME, the contract award marks its latest in the U.S. offshore wind sector. The company in April was selected to transport and install wind turbine generators for the 800 MW Vineyard Wind 1 project off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard, the first full-scale project to wind federal approval. It’s also been selected for cable installation work at the South Fork project that will supply renewable energy to Long Island, New York.

“We are extremely proud to be playing such a significant role in this dynamic and growing U.S. market and seeing our efforts bring clean energy to American households,” said DEME Group CEO Luc Vandenbulcke. “Following the award of the Vineyard offshore wind project installation works for foundations, substation and wind turbines and South Fork cable installation works, this partnership with Dominion Energy is an endorsement of our expertise and track record in enabling the energy transition process in the U.S. This contract further reaffirms DEME’s position as the pre-eminent contractor in the offshore wind installation industry both in the U.S. and globally.”

For the Vineyard 1 project, DEME will utilize one of its foreign-flagged wind turbine installation vessels along with Jones Act-qualified feeder vessels provided by U.S. maritime company FOSS Maritime to shuttle turbines and components from port in New Bedford, Massachusetts to the offshore lease area.

Dominion Energy is actually in the process of constructing the nation’s first WTIV, Charybdis, with the intention of using it for the turbine installation at the CVOW project. Delivery of the WTIV is planned by the end of 2023 from Keppel AmFELS in Brownsville, Texas.

“We are moving the CVOW project forward by working with industry leaders as we bring utility scale offshore wind generation to our Virginia customers,” said Joshua Bennett, Dominion Energy vice president of offshore wind. “These contracts will allow us to manage costs for the benefit of our customers and take advantage of the developing domestic supply chain to deliver on our promise to bring clean-energy jobs to Hampton Roads.”

Last year, Dominion Energy selected wind turbine manufacturer Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy as the preferred turbine supplier for the 176 14.7-megawatt turbines.

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