HEAVYLIFT@SEA, together with SeaRenergy, has presented the new OAV (Offshore Assistance Vessel) SR1.
The shape of the vessel is designed to reduce motions and increase comfort for technicians to mitigate the risk of sea sickness and weather downtime.
It accommodates up to 60 persons while being able to stay on location for several weeks offering more working time and less time in transit.
The vessel comes equipped with the motion compensated gangway, enabling safe access to wind turbines and offshore platforms in wave heights of up to 2.5 m.
Moreover, SR1 features a daughter craft in its own hangar at the stern, which will be utilized as a second way of access to the boat landing of offshore structures.
“The O&M market is only starting, and therefore demand for SOVs will grow with commissioned wind farms,” Dr. Benjamin Vordemfelde, Managing Director of SeaRenergy said. “SOVs are an attractive market segment with an excellent perspective offering stable growth and attractive charters. Therefore, we see the market entry into the SOV segment as the logical next step to develop our company further and also meet the growing demand for this new vessel class.“
Analysts estimate that the SOV market has a potential of 25 – 40 SOVs until 2020 whereas Offshore Wind is expected to grow to 23.5 GW, tripling current installed capacity by 2020.