The costs for Dominion Energy’s Charybdis installation vessel have increased to US$715m from US$625m last quarter, the US offshore wind developer has revealed.
Dominion blamed the increased price tag for the vessel on changes required to accommodate heavier turbines as well as the increased cost of financing.
At the same time, the company said that the vessel is still on time for delivery in late 2024 or early 2025, and the vessel is 89% complete.
The company said the modifications to the vessel will assist in the development of the US offshore sector and a domestic supply chain.
“It really wasn’t any change to the base ship, those costs did not increase,” executive vice president and chief operating officer Diane Leopold told analysts.
Leopold added that Dominion ordered the ship long before the final turbine design was complete for its 2640MW Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project.
The modifications include deck stiffening and hull reinforcement, which will support the cantilevered blade racks.
Of the US$90m increase in the project cost, US$55m of it is capital expenditure costs, executives said, and the rest comes from an increase in financing costs. Dominion said that they don’t expect any more increases in financing costs for the ship.