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Belgian, Italian firms land $1.1B contract for the largest US offshore wind farm

A consortium of Belgian dredging company Deme Group and Italian cable manufacturer Prysmian Group has been awarded a $1.1 billion contract by Dominion Energy Virginia to help build what will be the largest offshore wind farm in the US, the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project.

Prysmian in particular has secured the largest-ever awarded submarine cable contract in the US, and the consortium agreement is the largest offshore wind installation contract awarded in the US to date.

Upon expected completion in 2026, the 176-turbine, 2.6-gigawatt CVOW will be one of the largest offshore wind farms in the world. It will be capable of providing energy for 660,000 households and will reduce carbon emissions by over two million tons per year.

Here’s what Deme’s role will be:

DEME Offshore’s CVOW 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 Offshore will oversee the complete offshore installation works for the foundations, substations, infield cables, as well as part of the export cables. 

And this is what Prysmian’s role will be:

Prysmian Group will provide three 3-core 220kV HVAC export cables measuring approximately 62 km each, with XLPE insulation and single-wire armoring, for a total of approximately 560 km. The Company will also supply 320 km of 3-core 66kV offshore inter-array cables with XLPE insulation.

The export cables will be produced in Arco Felice, Italy, and Pikkala, Finland, while the inter-array cables will be manufactured in Nordenham, Germany. 

Last week, Dominion Energy disclosed that CVOW is going to cost more than they originally anticipated. In 2019, the utility said it’d cost around $8 billion. Now it says it will cost a bit closer to $10 billion.

Bob Blue, president and CEO of Dominion Energy, said, “The cost increase can be attributed to, among other things, commodity and general cost pressures as seems to be the case across a number of industries right now.”

CVOW is the only US offshore wind farm that’s owned by a “state-regulated utility that plans to place the cost burden on its ratepayers, as well as earn a profit from the regulated return on the investment,” according to E&E News.

Read more: The US is getting its first offshore wind blade factory

Photo: Deme Group


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Avatar for Michelle Lewis Michelle Lewis

Michelle Lewis is a writer and editor on Electrek and an editor on DroneDJ, 9to5Mac, and 9to5Google. She lives in White River Junction, Vermont. She has previously worked for Fast Company, the Guardian, News Deeply, Time, and others. Message Michelle on Twitter or at michelle@9to5mac.com. Check out her personal blog.