Spanish shipbuilder Gondan has launched the first of two Service Operation Vessels (SOVs) chartered by DONG Energy to service UK offshore wind farms.
The 81-metre SOV, ordered by Østensjø Rederi, will serve as a mother ship for wind turbine technicians at the 573MW Race Bank wind farm off the UK.
The SOV was launched at Gondan facilities in Figueras and is the first vessel of its kind to be built in Spain.
The second SOV under construction at Gondan will be deployed on DONG Energy’s Hornsea Project One wind farm once delivered in the third quarter of 2018.
The vessels feature 60 single cabins for up to 40 wind turbine technicians in addition to a marine crew of 20.
Both SOVs will be equipped with an Uptime 23-metre heave compensated walk-to-work gangway, a 3D compensated crane and a CTV landing system with bunkering facility.
In addition to the gangway, the vessels will have 11-metre daughter craft for transfer of maintenance technicians to the offshore wind turbines.
Both ships are being built according to the same UT 540 WP design by Rolls Royce Marine.