The construction of Monna Lisa began with a keel-laying ceremony in Tulcea, Romania, in April 2023. The 171-meter vessel, a sister ship to Leonardo da Vinci, was launched by VARD in June 2024 after 24 months of work, including steel cutting, generator installation, and hull assembly. Monna Lisa then traveled 4,000 nautical miles from Romania to Norway, towed through the Danube River, Mediterranean Sea, and along the coasts of Portugal and Spain, reaching VARD’s Søvik shipyard for final outfitting and testing. Prysmian announced on February 6, 2025, that the vessel had officially joined its fleet.
For the CVOW project, Prysmian is supplying three 220 kV HVAC export cables, each approximately 62 kilometers long, with XLPE insulation and single-wire armoring, totaling about 560 kilometers of cable. DEME Group, partnering with Prysmian, is responsible for the offshore installation of foundations, substations, infield cables, and portions of the export cables. In September 2024, DEME’s vessel Living Stone installed the first export cable.
The 2.6 GW CVOW project will include 176 Siemens Gamesa 14 MW wind turbines. Dominion Energy reported in February 2025 that the project is roughly 50% complete and remains on schedule for full operation by the end of 2026. Once operational, it will mark a significant milestone in U.S. renewable energy development.
