Vattenfall has signed a contract with French ship owner Louis Dreyfus Armateurs for up to three large Service Operation Vessels to be used at existing and planned offshore wind farms in the North Sea.
The 90 meter Service Operation Vessels will be used to support offshore wind farm operations and maintenance in the North Sea from 2027.
Today, Vattenfall mainly uses so called Crew Transfer Vessels (CTV) at its offshore sites. These are smaller and used for daily transport of technicians to and from the turbines if the sailing times are short. For more far offshore windfarms, the much larger Service Operation Vessels (SOV) are better suited as they are built to stay on the site for several days.
These vessels also feature spacious and comfortable hotel standard living quarters with a focus on rest and relaxation during standby periods. Each vessel can carry 60 people excluding the vessel crew.
Reduced fuel consumption
The vessels will be built, owned, and operated by French Group Louis Dreyfus Armateurs and will be registered under the French flag. The ships have been specifically designed to reduce fuel consumption and emissions during both operations and transit while meeting the harsh conditions of the North Sea.
Special care has been taken to enhance the safety and efficiency of the workflows and ensuring that technicians have optimal working conditions. For example, the vessels will have an adjustable-height stern boat landing to optimise technicians’ safe transfer between the ship and the turbines.
“After a thorough tender process we are really happy to have concluded these 10-year contracts and starting a long-term cooperation with Louis Dreyfus Armateurs,” says Pavlo Malyshenko, Head of Offshore Generation at Vattenfall Wind. “The vessels will support our mission of safe, reliable, and sustainable operation and delivery on cost efficiency ambitions in Sandbank and DanTysk, as well as the coming Nordlicht 1 and 2 wind farms. This will strengthen competitiveness of our far offshore wind assets and our position as one of the leading wind developers and operators in Northern Europe.”
The first vessel will be put into service in mid-2027 on the existing DanTysk and Sandbank offshore wind farms, each with a 288 MW capacity. The second vessel will be used for the coming Nordlicht 1 and 2 wind farms, co-owned by BASF, with a combined total capacity of 1,6 GW. The Nordlicht cluster is subject to final investment decision. A third, optional Service Operation Vessel is intended use in future Vattenfall projects.
Read more about Sandbank
Read more about DanTysk
Read more about Nordlicht 1 and 2
Read more about Louis Dreyfus Armateurs
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