Ørsted awards long-term O&M vessel contract for Taiwanese wind farms

Denmark’s Ørsted A/S (CPH:ORSTED) has awarded a contract for the construction of a service operation vessel (SOV) to be used for the future operation and maintenance of the 900-MW Greater Changhua 1 & 2a wind farms off the coast of Taiwan.

The firm that won the 15-year vessel contract is Ta San Shang Marine Co Ltd, which is a joint venture of Taiwan’s Ta Tong Marine Group (TTM) and Japan’s Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL).

This will be the first-ever bespoke SOV vessel in Taiwan and in Asia Pacific and it will be equipped with a motion-compensated gangway, a dynamic positioning system and a 3D motion-compensated crane. Also, it will be prepared for fossil fuel-free operation and will use the Port of Taichung as its base port.

The vessel will house a maximum of 60 technicians plus the crew. It will only need to return to shore once a month unlike smaller crew transfer vessels (CTVs), which have to return on a daily basis, Ørsted noted.

The SOV is expected to be delivered in early 2022.

The Greater Changhua 1 & 2a wind farms will be built about 35 and 60 kilometres (22 and 37 miles) off the west coast of Changhua County, Taiwan. They will comprise a total of 111 turbines.

Choose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!