Newly Launched Vessel Owner Taps Ulstein for Floating Foundation Installation Vessel Design

April 20, 2023, by Adrijana Buljan

Cyan Renewables, a Singapore-headquartered offshore wind vessel owner established last year by investment management company Seraya Partners, has contracted Ulstein Design & Solutions for the design of a series of new floating foundation installation vessels (FFIVs) for offshore wind.

Ulstein-designed FFIV for Cyan Renewables; Image: Ulstein Design & Solutions BV

The FFIVs will feature adequate deck space and crane capacity to meet developments in foundation design, including monopiles and jackets. The floating foundation installation vessels will also have low emission capability, using a hybrid power system consisting of dual-fuel engines (methanol), shore power and a battery energy storage system, the vessel designer says.

According to Ulstein, the new FFIVs are needed to fill the gap as there is an increasing lack of heavy lift installation vessels.

Edwin van Leeuwen, Managing Director at Ulstein Design & Solutions BV, said: “Back in time, we predicted a lack of foundation installation vessels and as developments go fast, our R&D focus has been on future-oriented FIV designs to suit the exponential growth of offshore wind”.

Ulstein’s R&D work under the contract with Cyan included a new method to develop both the business case and ship design at the same time, according to Ko Stroo, Product Manager/Lead Naval Architect in Ulstein Design & Solutions BV.

“With this Ulstein Blended Design method, we explored thousands of ship designs to find the most future-proof solutions”, Ko Stroo said. “Working with multiple future growth scenarios for offshore wind, allows us to support Cyan in finding the optimum business case and vessel design”.

“With their strong track record in heavy lift vessel design and a good understanding of the market constraints and requirements, Ulstein is the preferred partner to design our new vessels”, said Torgeir E. Ramstad, Managing Director at Cyan’s FFIV Division. “Cyan Renewables will be a leading global vessel provider to offshore wind by partnering with Developers and EPCI and T&I contractors based on future-proof vessels in all categories”.

Cyan Renewables’ parent company Seraya Partners announced the launch of the new company in September 2022 and said this was Asia’s first pure-play offshore wind farm vessel operator serving the offshore wind farm industry. Shortly after the launch, Cyan Renewables established a regional headquarters for operations in Europe in Denmark.

In a press release issued in September 2022, Cyan said it aimed to own and operate USD 1 billion in vessels over three years.

According to information available on the company’s website, Cyan’s fleet will include wind turbine installation vessels (WTIVs), a service operations vessel (SOV), and a cable laying vessel (CLV).