The offshore substation (OSS) for the Sunrise Wind project, a new offshore wind farm Ørsted is building in the US, has been installed and is now undergoing commissioning work.
The OSS was installed by Saipem’s heavy lift installation vessel Saipem 7000 in the first half of September, according to information in the Notices to Mariners for Ørsted’s Northeast Program, including Revolution Wind and Sunrise Wind.
The vessel started travelling from Europe to the US in August, shortly after major offshore construction work started and the first foundations were installed at the Sunrise Wind project site.
At Ørsted’s other Northeast Program offshore wind farm, Revolution Wind, wind turbine installation is again in progress after work resumed with a US court’s ruling that enabled the developer to continue construction that was halted by a stop-work order by the federal government.
Sunrise Wind is the first offshore wind project in the US to use a high-voltage direct current (HVDC) system , which is being delivered by Siemens Energy and Aker Solutions under a contract with the developer signed in 2021.
Ørsted, which initially partnered with Eversource on the project, is now building Sunrise Wind alone and has recently launched a rights issue to raise capital, most of which will be invested in the construction of the 924 MW project.
Located approximately 30 miles (approximately 48 kilometres) east of Montauk, New York, Sunrise Wind will comprise 84 Siemens Gamesa 11 MW wind turbines and will connect to the state’s electricity grid at the Holbrook substation in Brookhaven, Suffolk County.