DEME Starts Installing First CVOW Export Cable

September 12, 2024, by Adnan Memija

DEME Group has laid the first export cable for Dominion Energy’s 2.6 GW Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project, while also reaching a milestone by installing the 70th monopile foundation at the site off Virginia Beach in the US.

As previously reported, Dominion Energy selected the consortium of DEME Group and Prysmian as the Balance of Plant (BoP) contractors for the transportation and installation of the foundations and the substations and the engineering, procurement, construction, and installation (EPCI) services for the inter-array and export cables for the project.

DEME Offshore will oversee the complete offshore installation works for the foundations, substations, infield cables, and part of the export cables.

Prysmian Group will provide three 3-core 220 kV HVAC export cables measuring approximately 62 kilometres each, with XLPE insulation and single-wire armouring, for a total of approximately 560 kilometres.

According to DEME’s recent social media post, the company successfully laid the first export cable using the company’s cable installation vessel, Living Stone.

Regarding the installation of monopile foundations, DEME installed 70 units using its vessel Orion which started the work in May this year from Portsmouth Marine Terminal, the staging site for the CVOW foundations. EEW SPC is manufacturing the monopiles under a contract signed with Dominion Energy in 2021.

The monopile installation will continue through the autumn of 2024 and resume in May 2025 for the second installation season, with construction remaining on schedule to be complete in late 2026.

The 2.6 GW Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind will feature 176 Siemens Gamesa 14 MW wind turbines and will become the biggest US offshore wind farm once in operation.