First Jones Act-compliant offshore wind installation vessel launched

The company said there has been no change to the vessel’s timeline, which supports construction of the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) Commercial offshore windfarm.

Dominion Energy chair, president and chief executive Bob Blue said, “Charybdis is vital not only to the CVOW Commercial project, but also to the growth of the offshore wind industry along the US East Coast and is key to the continued development of a domestic supply chain, providing a homegrown solution for the installation of offshore wind turbines.”

The vessel is being constructed at the Brownsville, Texas shipyard of marine and offshore engineering group Seatrium, using domestically sourced steel. At peak construction, over 1,200 workers were employed on the project.

Once complete, the home port for the vessel will be in Hampton Roads, one of the premier offshore wind installation harbours in the US. The vessel will be American crewed.

The hull and structure were fabricated with more than 14,000 tonnes of domestic steel, with nearly 10,000 tonnes sourced from Alabama, West Virginia and North Carolina suppliers.

Charybdis is designed to handle turbine sizes of 12 MW or larger.

Dominion Energy has also confirmed the CVOW Commercial project has secured its final construction air permit from the Environmental Protection Agency. This is the 11th and final federal permit required to begin offshore construction. Monopile installation for CVOW will begin in May.

A video of the launch is below, courtesy of the American Clean Power Association