Van Oord’s new cable laying vessel (CLV) Calypso is gearing up for its debut at RWE’s 1.4 GW Sofia offshore wind farm in the UK.
The inter-array cables have been loaded onto Calypso CLV at the Port of Blyth in the UK, ahead of its first job at RWE’s biggest offshore wind, according to Van Oord, which secured the contract for the installation of monopile foundations and cables back in 2021.
Built by Vard, the vessel is 130 meters long and has a beam of 28 meters.
The DP2 Calypso is equipped with a below-deck cable carousel and a second carousel on deck, with total cable-carrying capacity of 8,000 tonnes.
Apart from the ability to run on biofuel, this hybrid vessel has future-ready engines with built-in flexibility to anticipate e-fuels. It has a large battery pack, a shore supply connection, and a state-of-the-art energy management system.
The vessel will mainly be used for installing inter-array grid and export cables for offshore wind projects worldwide.