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SINGAPORE: Singaporean conglomerate Keppel Corp said on Thursday (December 17) that it is building the first offshore wind turbine installation vessel in the US for US energy company Dominion Energy.
This follows the announcement in October that Keppel had secured a contract worth approximately S $ 600 million in the offshore renewable energy industry.
The contract will be for the “engineering, procurement and construction” of the vessel, which is scheduled for delivery in 2023, Keppel said in a press release Thursday.
The vessel is being built by Keppel Offshore & Marine’s (Keppel O&M) shipyard in the US, Keppel AmFELS, and will comply with the Jones Act.
Keppel AmFELS is a wholly owned subsidiary of Keppel O&M, and was established in 1990.
The vessel will be available for charter rental to offshore wind developers, in support of various US wind projects. It is expected to be fully utilized on projects on the East Coast of the US exceeding 5 gigawatts of offshore wind construction through 2027.
“We are pleased to have been selected by Dominion Energy to build the first offshore wind turbine installation vessel in the US, which is also one of the largest vessels of its kind in the world,” said Keppel CEO. O&M, Chris Ong.
Dominion Energy President and CEO Robert Blue described the move as a “monumental step” for the US offshore wind industry.
“Dominion Energy is proud to lead a consortium of respected industry participants in building the first Jones Act compliant offshore wind turbine installation vessel, which will provide significant jobs in the United States and provide a reliable installation solution and facility capable of handling the next generation of large-scale and highly efficient turbine technologies, ”said Mr. Blue.
“This will allow the offshore wind industry to bring clean, renewable energy to customers in the United States.”
The Jones Act is a law that requires goods moving between US ports to be transported by US-built ships with US crews.
Mr. Blue noted that his company had chosen Keppel AmFELS to build the vessel as it provided an “efficient, economical and versatile solution”, backed by a reputation for delivering “high quality” vessels safely and reliably.
Work on the vessel, to be called the Charybdis, began with a keel-laying ceremony, where steel is laid to form the first part of the keel, Wednesday at the KeppelAMFELS shipyard in Brownsville, Texas.
