French firm Nexans has partnered with US-based Crowley Wind Services to develop a Jones Act-compliant cable lay barge.

The 300ft cable lay barge, constructed in Louisiana and tested in the Gulf of Mexico, will be operated by a crew of American mariners.

This barge is intended to facilitate the laying and burying of subsea cables, which are crucial for transmitting energy from offshore wind farms to the onshore grid.

Crowley Wind Services operations vice president Graham Tyson said: “The cable lay barge will provide a productive supply chain solution for offshore energy, telecommunications and other sectors.

“Coupled with our US maritime fleet and mariners providing feedering services and other logistics and project management capabilities, we could not be better equipped to serve the needs of industries seeking subsea cable solutions.”

Equipped with a dynamic positioning system and a multiple-anchors positioning system, the barge is said to ensure precise cable placement, even under challenging environmental conditions.

Additionally, the barge features a 3,500t capacity carousel for laying and burying subsea cables, utilising tools such as a vertical injector, a jet sled, or a jetting remotely operated vehicle (ROV).

There is potential for future upgrades to increase the capacity to 7,000t by incorporating two carousels for bundle cable laying and burial, stated Nexans.

At present, the barge is engaged in supporting Equinor's Empire Wind offshore wind farm project off the coast of New York and is adaptable for various other subsea cable installation and repair tasks.

Nexans' PWR-Transmission Business Group executive vice president Pascal Radue said: “This barge will support our existing fleet of cable laying vessels, the Nexans CLV Aurora, Nexans C/S Skagerrak, and Nexans CLV Electra, and we are pleased to be working with Crowley on developing the capability to lay nearshore subsea cable in the US.”