Posted on May 11, 2022
Wind developers are awarding contracts as they prepare to move into the offshore construction of wind farms and then to provide ongoing support and maintenance. Both U.S. companies and international leaders in the offshore sector are benefitting from these contracts for the first large U.S. offshore wind farms.
Dutch marine contractor Heerema was selected as a strategic supplier by Equinor to support the installation of both the Empire Wind and Beacon Wind projects being developed in a joint venture between Equinor and BP offshore from New York and Massachusetts. The contract covers a seven-year period with Heerema responsible for transportation and installation services of wind farm foundations and offshore substations for the East Coast projects. Heerema will collaborate with Equinor and BP in the preparation and Jones Act compliant execution of the projects.
Similarly, DEME Offshore US, a division of the Belgium company providing Jones Act compliant feeder solutions to support the transport and installation for the Vineyard Wind 1 project is located off the coast of Massachusetts, announced last week contracts to develop motion compensation technology as part of the feeder concept on the Vineyard Wind 1 project. DEME Offshore is responsible for the transportation and installation including the monopile foundations, offshore substation, and 62 GE Haliade offshore wind turbines for the wind farm.
As part of this program to meet Jones Act requirements, Foss Maritime is partnering with DEME Offshore in the development of the smart feeder barge concept. DEME also has a five-year agreement with the Dutch company Barge Master, where it will utilize four motion compensation platforms which will be installed on the Foss Maritime barges. The U.S.-flagged barges and tugs will transport the components to DEME’s specialized offshore installation vessels. When arriving alongside the installation vessel the Barge Master motion compensation technology ensures safe lifting operations for the components.
The growth of the offshore wind sector is creating business opportunities and to meet their contractual and legal obligations the developers are creating business and jobs in the U.S. maritime sector.
