Equinor, BP JV Hires DEME for Offshore Wind Cable Installation in U.S.

OEDigital January 4, 2023

Credit: DEME

Offshore installation services company DEME Offshore has won a "substantial" contract for the transportation and installation of the inter-array cables for the Empire Wind 1 and 2 offshore wind farms being developed in the U.S. by Empire Offshore Wind, a joint venture between Equinor and BP.

For DEME, a substantial contract represents a value of EUR 150–300 million.

Under the contract, DEME Offshore US will be responsible for the transport and installation of the inter-array cables, which have a total length of over 350 km (217 miles).

The installation works will be performed by a cable installation vessel from the DEME fleet in two campaigns. Currently the company operates the cable installation vessel ‘Living Stone’ and this will be joined by a second DP3 cable installation vessel ‘Viking Neptun’ in Q1 2023.

Empire Wind 1 and 2 are being developed by a 50-50 partnership between Equinor and BP.

Equinor will be in charge of running the projects during the development, construction, and operation stages. Once constructed, Empire Wind 1 and 2 will have a total installed capacity of more than 2 GW and will power more than 1 million New York households.