Prysmian Group vessels install Vineyard Wind cables
The Italian cable manufacturing company, Prysmian, has successfully installed cables for the Vineyard Wind project, the first large-scale offshore wind farm (OWF) in the United States (US).
Vineyard Wind announced that cable installation for the first commercial scale offshore wind farm began approximately 15 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard, in the US state of Massachusetts (MA), on 1 November 2022. This installation followed survey and preparation works conducted by Prysmian Group over the summer of 2022. On arrival in the US, the cable laying vessels Cable Enterprise and Cable Ulisse were tested at the Group’s centres of technological excellence.
Prysmian Group’s vessel, the Cable Enterprise, installed two offshore sections of about 12 kilometres each, in November. Recently, the Cable Ulisse is now installing the first nearshore section of cable, after the successful completion of pull-in through HDD in Covell’s Beach in Cape Cod, MA. In 2023 the Cable Ulisse will complete the project’s installation activities with the remaining nearshore section and the two mid-sections.
The vessels
Built in 2001, Prysmian Group’s cable laying vessel Cable Enterprise sails under the flag of the United Kingdom. With a length of 124.32 metres and a width of 31.6 metres, the vessel has a gross tonnage of 9,156 tonnes. The cable laying vessel Cable Ulisse was built in 2011 and sails under the flag of Malta. With a length of 120.11 metres and a beam of 33.61 metres, it has a gross tonnage of 10,575 tonnes.
On-shore cables
From the onshore cable landing site, the cables will be installed underground along public roads to an onshore substation in the village of Hyannis in Cape Cod, MA. The Vineyard Wind 1 onshore substation will be adjacent to an existing Falmouth substation, operated by Eversource, New England’s largest energy provider. This 800-megawatt project will generate electricity for more than 400,000 homes and businesses in Massachusetts from 2032 on, and is expected to reduce carbon emissions by more than 1.6 million metric tons per year.
