North Star has launched the first of four hybrid-powered daughter crafts that will be used on the Dogger Bank wind farm offshore the UK from next year.
The vessel was launched at a naming ceremony held at the RoyalNorfolk and Suffolk Yacht club in Lowestoft, England, adjacent to the firm’s regional operations hub.
It was delivered ahead of schedule to further performance and field operations readiness, North Star said.
The daughter craft, named Grace Darling , was built by Alicat Workboats for which the company won a contract in 2021.
“We are very pleased to have officially launched the Grace Darling and bring the world’s first offshore wind hybrid propulsion daughter craft to market. There is a long history of iconic women hailing from the region, and we wanted to enhance their legacy by naming our new green fleet in their memory as well as commemorate our local roots”, said Matthew Gordon , North Star CEO.
In June, the offshore vessel operator ordered two more daughter craft, also bound for the Dogger Bank offshore wind farm, from the same company.
Designed by Chartwell Marine in collaboration with North Star, the vessels will utilise a combination of diesel and electric outboards.
The four vessels will support operations with the transfer of maintenance technicians and equipment between North Star’s service operation vessels (SOVs) and wind turbines at Dogger Bank Wind Farm during phases A, B, and C.
The SOVs are currently being built at VARD’s Vung Tau shipyard in Vietnam and will feature MO4’s AI decision support software.
Work on the first vessel commenced in October and the first SOVs are scheduled to arrive at Port of Tyne in summer 2023, with the Dogger Bank C ship due in 2025.