Charybdis, the first, and so far only, Jones Act-compliant turbine installation vessel has arrived at Portsmouth Marine Terminal, the marshalling port for the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) development.
The wind energy project is being built by Dominion Energy, and is the largest of the five offshore wind facilities currently under construction on the US Atlantic coast. Charybdis, commissioned by Dominion Energy, will be used to install the 176 wind turbines, turbine towers, nacelles and blades. Monopiles and transition pieces have been installed by Deme’s Orion.
Charybdis was built at Seatrium AmFELS in Brownsville, Texas. It measures 472 ft (144 m) long, with a beam of 184 ft (56 m) and a draught of 38 ft (12 m). The main crane can lift 2,200 tons (2,000 tonnes).
CVOW is proceeding on schedule, as are three other offshore wind projects in the USA. The farthest advanced development, Ørsted’s Revolution Wind, was halted by a stop-work order issued by the US administration late in August. The states of Connecticut and Rhode Island, to which Revolution will supply power, filed suit in federal court about two weeks later to lift the order, calling it “arbitrary and capricious,” and an “impulsive and lawless overreach”.
