Offshore staff
ABERDEEN, Scotland — North Star has secured a contract with Siemens Gamesa to build a hybrid service operations vessel (SOV) bound for long-term charter at the East Anglia THREE offshore wind farm development located off the Suffolk coast, England.
This adds an eighth hybrid offshore wind ship to the organization’s renewables fleet. It aims to add 40 SOVs to the business by 2040.
North Star says this latest win in the North Sea means the firm will now support two of the world’s largest wind farms, having already delivered three of four planned SOVs ahead of schedule to the Dogger Bank wind farm.
The East Anglia THREE wind farm will have a total capacity of 1,400 MW, generating green electricity to power the equivalent of more than 1.3 million homes.
The construction project for the SOV of VARD 4 19 design has been awarded by North Star to Cochin Shipyard Ltd. The firm is also building a tailored SOV to VARD 4 07 design for the business, which will be delivered to EnBW on a decade-long minimum charter to service the He Dreiht wind farm offshore Germany.
The high-specification vessel will accommodate up to 60 of its client’s wind technicians as they support maintenance operations across all 95 wind turbines at the East Anglia Hub development. It also features a height adjustable motion compensated gangway as well as North Star’s Decision Support system to support zero carbon objectives.
The new SOV is due to be delivered to Siemens Gamesa to begin operations for the East Anglia THREE development in late 2026. The contract will be front run by one of North Star’s two commissioning SOVs, the CSOV Kestrel, from April the same year.
05.24.2024
