Rolls-Royce has designed a new wind farm service vessel for the Norwegian based shipping company Østensjø Rederi for a five-year contract from DONG Energy. The ship will be built at the Astilleros Gondan shipyard in Spain and delivered in September 2017. The newbuild will be the 12th vessel Østensjø Rederi has built at Astilleros Gondan.
DONG Energy’s Race Bank Offshore Wind Farm in the UK had entered into a firm five-year contract which enabled Østensjø Rederi to expand their business into the renewable energy sector. The vessel will house wind turbine technicians as they perform maintenance work on wind turbines at the offshore wind farm.
The salient features:
- It is a DP2 Service Operation Vessel with high station keeping capacities.
- It will have 60 single cabins with accommodations for up to 40 wind turbine technicians and 20 crew members.
- The vessel will feature a motion compensated gangway system with an adjustable pedestal to ensure safe operations and optimal uptime.
- The 81.10 m long vessel, with a beam of 17.0 m, will work out of Grimsby operation base.
“It ensures safe and efficient operation of windfarms far from shore, starting with Race Bank windfarm, and we are convinced that DONG Energy will benefit from Østensjø Rederi’s long experience in conducting safe operations in an offshore environment.“, says Jens Jakobsson, Senior Vice President for Wind Power Operations in DONG Energy.
The Race Bank Offshore Wind Farm, expected to become operational in 2018, will be located in the North Sea approximately 16.8 miles off Blakeney Point on the North Norfolk coast and 17.4 miles off the Lincolnshire coast at Chapel St Leonards. The offshore array will cover an area of approximately 29 square miles with a maximum capacity of up to 580 MW.
Source: Østensjø Rederi
