Great Lakes Dredge & Dock, Van Oord Win Empire Wind Rock Installation Project

Houston-based Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corporation on Monday announced it has been selected with Dutch offshore services firm Van Oord to perform the subsea rock installation work for Equinor and bp's Empire Wind I and II wind farms off the U.S. East Coast.

Great Lakes will use the first Jones Act compliant subsea rock installation vessel, currently under construction at the Philly Shipyard in the U.S., to install rocks to protect and stabilize monopile foundations, electrical substructures and export cables, starting with Empire Wind I in the mid-2020s and continuing with Empire Wind II. Van Oord will mobilize the flexible fallpipe vessel, Stornes, to install rock prior to the installation of the monopile foundations.

Great Lakes said it will purchase rock from domestic New York quarries, which are in close proximity to the Empire Wind I and II offshore wind farm sites. The company said it is also working closely with NYSERDA on NY Supply Chain development and will be using the GLDD marine base in Staten Island, N.Y., for its site operations.

Lasse Petterson, Great Lakes' president and CEO, said, “The consortium of Great Lakes with Van Oord combines the experience of Van Oord, the global market leader in subsea rock installation, with Great Lakes, the only U.S. marine contractor to invest in building the first Jones Act compliant fallpipe vessel purpose built for the U.S. offshore wind market. This unique combination offered a competitive advantage in terms of experience, equipment availability, local content, and knowledge of labor and regulatory environments in the U.S.”

Eleni Beyko, Senior Vice President-Offshore Wind at Great Lakes, commented, “This award by Equinor and bp solidifies Great Lakes’ entry into the U.S. offshore wind market with a major project award for one of the flagship offshore wind developments for the State of New York. We are very happy to support New York in building a more sustainable future. We have a long track record working with the state and the local unions and supply chains, having executed dredging projects in New York for many decades. Our goal now is to contribute to building the U.S. offshore wind industry, while creating local employment and economic activity in the state.”

Empire Wind I and II are expected to provide over 2 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy to the state of New York.