Great Lakes Dredge & Dock and Van Oord awarded Empire Wind I and II rock installation contract

Empire Offshore Wind, a joint venture between Equinor and BP, has awarded the contract for subsea rock installation work for the Empire Wind I and II wind farms off the coast of Long Island, New York to Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corporation and Van Oord.

Great Lakes will use the first Jones Act-compliant subsea rock installation vessel, currently under construction at Philly Shipyard, to install rocks to protect and stabilize monopile foundations, electrical substructures and export cables, starting with Empire Wind I in the mid-2020s and continuing with Empire Wind II. Van Oord will mobilize the flexible fallpipe vessel, Stornes, to install rock prior to the installation of the monopile foundations.