Dominion Energy, Ørsted and Eversource have announced an agreement for Ørsted and Eversource to charter Dominion Energy's Charybdis, the first Jones Act-qualified offshore wind turbine installation vessel in the USA, for the construction of two offshore wind farms in the Northeast.Charybdis, which is expected to be sea ready by late 2023, will first be deployed out of New London harbor to support the construction of Revolution Wind and Sunrise Wind, both under joint development by Ørsted and Eversource. Once complete, the two projects will generate more than 1.6GW.
The charter's terms will allow the vessel, subject to state regulatory approval, to support construction of Dominion Energy's 2.6GW Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project off the coast of Virginia Beach, which is expected, consistent with prior guidance, to be completed in 2026.
The 472-foot vessel is being constructed in Brownsville, Texas, at Keppel AmFELS's shipyard. The US$ 500 million vessel is designed to handle current turbine technologies as well as next generation turbine sizes of 12MW or larger. It will also be capable of the installation of foundations for turbines.