New SOV Concept on Horizon with NEXUS Project Launched

ARTTIC and Rolls-Royce Marine are co-leading a three-year research and development project to deliver an advanced Service Operations Vessel (SOV) concept to tackle the challenges of offshore wind farm operations and maintenance (O&M).

Asbjørn Skaro, Director of Systems, Rolls-Royce Marine, said: “The number of European SOVs are estimated to quadruple within the next ten years. Through the NEXUS project, we aim to provide a vessel concept with improved and new solutions for operations and maintenance of offshore wind turbines and farms. The overall goal is to make offshore wind power more cost-effective.”

The advanced SOV concept to result from the NEXUS project will be optimised for maximum performance and safety with minimised lifetime cost by 20% and with reduced CO2 emission by 30% compared to current state of the art vessels, according to a press release from the project consortium also comprising the University of Strathclyde, Astilleros Gondan, DNV GL, and Global Marine Systems.

NEXUS will develop and demonstrate a novel, beyond state of the art, specialised vessel, and logistics for safe and sustainable servicing of offshore wind farms. This will be achieved by designing and validating a reference concept SOV that will integrate new and emerging technologies. To allow room for design creativity and flexibility, the project will also recommend new safety regulations for wind farm service vessels. NEXUS includes simulation, model testing and consideration of the most suitable construction and production principles for small series or one off vessels of this type. Key aspects of NEXUS include environmental impact assessment, cost estimation as well as both the marketability (technology push), and the cost effectiveness of the offshore operations concerned (demand pull).

The EUR 4.4 million project has been granted EUR 3.3 million from the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 research programme.

Dr Romanas Puisa, Safety Researcher at the Maritime Safety Research Centre of University of Strathclyde, said: “NEXUS will impact EU marine businesses by reducing costs and providing industry with a tool set that will give them a competitive edge in the European Waters and the ability to use the same process to expand in to new wind markets around the world“.