Marine energy and infrastructure services company Acteon has supported Siemens Gamesa with a cable survey for the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) pilot project.
The work forms part of Acteon’s operations and maintenance (O&M) package for the offshore wind farm.
The company has been working with Siemens Gamesa to fully optimise the wind turbine service and balance of plant at the 12MW, two-turbine installation.
The CVOW export cables are about 45 km long and the array cables are one km long.
Terrasond, a brand within Acteon’s geo-services segment, carried out the survey from the Atlantic Endeavor, the CVOW project’s dedicated crew transfer vessel (CTV), provided by Atlantic Wind Transfers, modified for the work.
This helped to reduce the project’s carbon footprint by avoiding the need to mobilise a dedicated survey vessel.
In September 2020, Acteon, entered into an agreement with Siemens Gamesa to jointly provide a fully integrated offshore wind turbine O&M package for the CVOW pilot project, which is the first offshore wind project installed in US federal waters.
“Being able to combine our companies’ expertise enabled us to find creative solutions to perform this work scope and use the existing CTV.
“This allowed for a more efficient process while reducing the project’s overall footprint and, ultimately, led to the partnership with Acteon,” said Jacob Ib, senior marine asset manager at Siemens Gamesa.
Tim Eyles, vice president, Acteon, said: “Acteon is proud of the ongoing work with Siemens Gamesa to offer seabed surveys and asset inspection as part of a fully integrated O&M package delivered through our experienced geo-services, electronics and tooling, and offshore engineering segments.”
The CVOW pilot project is owned by Dominion Energy and is located about 43.5 km off the Virginia coast.
The two Siemens Gamesa SWT-6.0-154 offshore wind turbines have been operational since October 2020.
The pilot project learnings will be used to support Dominion Energy’s proposed 2.6GW commercial project, which is on track to commence construction in 2024.