Monopile Installation Continues at Vineyard Wind 1 Site Offshore Farm in USA

Before installation, the POLARIS and HOS RUGER vessels will deploy and retrieve a double big bubble curtain (DBBC) system around pile-driving operations. The DBBC will be positioned on the seafloor, tested, and activated before the Orion vessel's arrival for each pile-driving task. According to Vineyard Wind, a joint venture between Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), each bubble curtain setup will take approximately two to four hours. After completing pile-driving, the DBBC equipment will be collected by POLARIS and HOS RUGER and moved to the next installation site.

After each monopile foundation is installed, DEME Group’s jack-up vessel, Sea Challenger, will place the transition pieces (TPs) onto the foundation sites. This phase is set to start in early November 2024, supported by vessels GO FREEDOM, GO PATRIOT, and GO GLORY. DEME Offshore US is handling the transportation and installation of monopile foundations, TPs, the offshore substation, scour protection, and the offshore substation foundation and platform, as well as the installation of wind turbines. The first of 62 monopile foundations, supplied by EEW Special Pipe Constructions (EEW SPC), was installed in June 2023, 15 miles off Martha’s Vineyard.

The 800 MW offshore wind farm will comprise 62 GE Vernova’s Haliade-X 13 MW wind turbines, each with a 220-m rotor and 107-m blades.