Van Oord/GLDD to protect Empire Offshore Wind foundations
May 4, 2022
Empire Offshore Wind has chosen the Van Oord/GLDD consortium for subsea rock installation for the Empire Wind I and II development.
Courtesy Vestas Wind Systems A/S
In October 2021, Empire Offshore Wind selected Vestas as its preferred supplier for wind turbine generators for both Empire Wind I and Empire Wind II, one of the largest offshore wind projects in the US.
Offshore staff
ROTTERDAM, the Netherlands — Empire Offshore Wind, the joint venture between Equinor and bp, has chosen the Van Oord/Great Lakes Dredge & Dock (GLDD) consortium for subsea rock installation for the Empire Wind I and II development offshore New York State.
Van Oord’s scope comprises preparing the seabed with placement of filter rock prior to installation of monopile foundations, using the flexible fallpipe vessel Stornes. GLDD will install armor rocks as a stabilization and protection layer post installation of the monopiles.
GLDD, which is building its own Jones-Act compliant fallpipe vessel, has ample local access to rocks produced from domestic quarries, according to Van Oord.
Operations at the Empire Wind I and II sites should start in the mid-2020s. The wind farms will cover a 32-km area south of Long Island.
Up to 174 wind turbines with a total installed capacity of about 2 GW should generate sufficient power to supply about1 million households in New York.
