1/3/2022: The Prysmian Group announced that it has won two milestone offshore wind farm projects in the U.S. worth nearly $900 million, and that—pending final okays—it will build a U.S. power cable plant to manufacture some of the submarine power cable.

A press release said that Vineyard Wind, a 1,200 MW wind farm project, is a joint venture between Avangrid Renewables and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners. The contract, worth about $300 million, is for cabling to connect the 804 MW Park City offshore wind farm to the electricity grid in the state of Connecticut. Prysmian will deploy HVAC 275 kV three-core cables with XLPE insulation and single wire armoring. The cables will be produced by Prysmian’s plants in Arco Felice, Italy, and Pikkala, Finland, and installed by the Leonardo da Vinci and Ulisse vessels. Delivery and commissioning are scheduled for 2026.

The 1,200 MW Commonwealth Wind (CW) cable project is worth around $580 million. Prysmian will design, supply, install, and commission as many as three export submarine power cable links to connect CW to the electricity grid in Massachusetts. Prysmian will supply HVAC 275 kV three-core cables with XLPE insulation and single-wire armoring.
Prysmian intends to build a manufacturing facility for submarine transmission cables at Brayton Point, the site of a former coal-fired power plant in Somerset. The CW project agreement is subject to conditions, such as permits and arrangements with the property owner as well as Prysmian."

The CW submarine cables are planned to be produced in the new plant in Massachusetts, as well as at Prysmian plants in Arco Felice and Pikkala. Delivery and commissioning of the export cables are scheduled for 2027. Both cable supply awards are subject to the finalization of Prysmian Group plans to localize its footprint.

Per Common Wealth Magazine, Avangrid Renewables encouraged Prysmian to open a facility in Massachusetts by promising to use it as the supplier for both of the projects. Such a plant would provide some 200 jobs.

The news “confirms the validity of Prysmian’s growth ambition in the fast-developing offshore wind farm industry in the U.S.,” the release said. “Prysmian is also excited to announce significant progress towards its first submarine power cables manufacturing facility in the U.S.” said Prysmian Group Executive President Hakan Ozmen. “While we still have work to do ... it is clear that, with the support of the state of Massachusetts and others, we are in a great position to reach a final agreement that will prompt a major expansion of our company.”
The release said the new projects “are important additions to (Prysmian’s) growing submarine cable and HVDC system portfolio in North America.” The Group’s track record includes interconnections projects like the SOO Green HVDC link, Neptune, TransBay and Hudson River, as well as the Empire Wind interarray projects.