China Merchants Heavy Industry (CMHI) has delivered the commissioning service operations vessel (CSOV) IWS Skywalker to IWS Fleet, a wholly owned subsidiary of Integrated Wind Solutions (IWS). The vessel has already been chartered for Dogger Bank Wind Farm and will start working there early next year.
The vessel will commence its charter contract at the Dogger Bank Wind Farm in the first quarter of 2024, after it arrives from the CMHI shipyard.
The CSOV was built at CMHI shipyard in Jiangsu, China, where the first steel was cut in January 2022 and the keel was laid in June last year. In November 2022, IWS launched IWS Skywalker , which remained at the CMHI yard for outfitting.
IWS Skywalker is the first of a series of six identical sister vessels, with the remaining five vessels scheduled for delivery in 2024 and 2025.
The vessels are designed by Kongsberg Maritime and equipped with the latest generation 3D compensated gangway and crane systems.
According to IWF Fleet, the hybrid-powered vessels will be among the first in the industry capable of zero-emission operations.
The vessels have several “industry firsts”, such as the largest battery packs in the industry with solar panels for additional charging, and a novel hull and propulsion design that increases operability and reduces emissions. Furthermore, they are the first in the industry to have the “DNV SILENT” notation, which focuses on minimising the impact on marine life below water, the vessel owner says.
Once IWS Skywalker arrives in the UK waters in early 2024, the vessel will commence the first out of three charter contracts IWS was awarded for the Dogger Bank Wind Farm projects.
In 2021, IWS Fleet secured its first contract with the Dogger Bank consortium for the chartering of a CSOV, which will be used during the commissioning of the 13 MW GE Renewable Energy Haliade-X turbines on the first two phases of the wind farm, Dogger Bank A and Digger Bank B.
In March 2022, Dogger Bank Wind Farm notified IWS Fleet of its intention to sign a charter contract for one of its Skywalker class CSOVs for the third phase of the offshore wind farm, Dogger Bank C.