Consortium assessing needs for future floating offshore wind service vessel

North Star has signed a memorandum of understanding with MO4, Principle Power, SMST, VARD and Voith Group to help fast-track design and testing of a new service operations vessel (SOV) concept for the floating offshore wind sector.

They will jointly work on a ship design tailored to the needs of commercial-scale projects, such as the 17 GW of floating schemes in the UK North Sea area awarded under the ScotWind leasing round.

Floating wind turbines will be located in deeper waters farther from shore. According to North Star, design improvements are needed for cases where both the vessel and platform are dynamic and in motion to ensure safe transfers from SOVs to floating wind platforms.

The company envisages the development of specially designed SOVs operating under a long-term contract that address the issues facing floating offshore wind project operators. The collaborative SOV design could establish a new benchmark in the industry for safety, performance and efficiency.

“Our goal is to create an innovative, best-in-class ship design that supports the rapid expansion of floating wind technology," said Andrew Duncan, North Star’s renewables and innovations director.

North Star initiates industry partnership to deliver next-generation SOV for floating offshore wind

As leader of the project’s design process, North Star will ensure logistics and service needs are taken into account to meet actual requirements in the field.

M04, as specialist in digital twin and AI decision support software, will assess the workability of the proposed SOV concept. Its focus will be on vessel motions, gangway performance and the movement of the floating wind turbine foundations.

Principle Power will contribute data on the range of motions anticipated from its WindFloat floating offshore wind platforms. It will also define operational use cases for inspection, maintenance and repair, so the SOV is optimized for the needs of the next-generation floating wind projects.

SMST, a specialist offshore equipment designer and builder, brings experience in gangway technology, data on different walk-to-work options, workability parameters and solutions for landing height adjustments to ensure safe personnel transfers.

VARD will combine the inputs from the various partners to develop an offshore wind ship design.

Finally, Voith Group will work on the propulsion options, selecting DP systems to maintain stability and performance in the offshore environment.