Orion Loads First Coastal Virginia Foundations, Work on Project’s Second Offshore Substation Begins

May 13, 2024, by Adnan Memija

The first six foundations for Dominion Energy’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project have been loaded onto DEME Group’s installation vessel, Orion. In addition, work on the second offshore substation for the 2.6 GW project has started at CS Wind Offshore’s production site in Aalborg, Denmark.

The first six monopiles, which are produced by EEW SPC, were loaded onto Orion in the Port of Virginia, said Dominion Energy in a social media. According to the latest AIS data available online, the vessel is en route to the offshore construction site located some 43 kilometres off the coast of Virginia.

In October 2023, the Port of Virginia received the first eight foundations out of 176 to be delivered by EEW SPC to Dominion Energy.

The units are up to 83 metres long, weigh 1,538 tonnes, and have a diameter of up to 9.5 metres.

As reported, Dominion Energy selected a consortium of DEME and Prysmian as the Balance of Plant (BoP) contractors in charge of 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.

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

Work Begins on Secon CVOW Offshore Substation

In 2021, a consortium comprising Semco Maritime and Bladt Industries (now CS Wind Offshore) was awarded a contract for the supply of three substations for the 2.6 GW CVOW offshore wind project in the US.

Denmark-headquartered CS Wind Offshore is responsible for the design, procurement, and manufacturing of the steel structures and jacket foundations for the substations, while the design, procurement, and installation of electrical equipment, energy systems, and inter-array cables will be managed by Semco Maritime.

The first of three 880 MW offshore substations arrived at the production site in Aalborg in January this year.

Now, the outfitting of the second unit has commenced in Denmark. When it is done, each offshore substation will weigh 3,800 tonnes, not including the jacket foundations or the pin piles.

Along with the substations’ steel structures and foundations, CS Wind Offshore will also deliver the transition pieces (TPs) for the offshore wind farm.

“Every time we need to create one part, we have to make it three times. The topsides are identical. You could say we’re dealing with triplets on this project. There’s no discernible difference in our scope,” said Johan Bank, Senior Project Manager at CS Wind Offshore.