Giant North Sea wind farm to benefit from early delivery of hybrid support vessel

Aberdeen-based vessel operator North Star’s second hybrid ship is set to be mobilised three months earlier than planned to support the latest round of work at the giant Dogger Bank Wind Farm.

The first of the company’s new offshore wind fleet, the Grampian Tyne, was blessed last month at an event held at the Dogger Bank operational base at the Port of Tyne. The second service operation vessel (SOV), the Grampian Derwent, which is a larger ship with increased accommodation capacity and helideck, has recently been delivered to North Star in Vietnam. The new award with SSE Renewables, part of Perth-headquartered SSE, will see the vessel support firm aiding the construction and commissioning stage at the initial phase of the wind farm’s development, located off the north east coast of England. This will allow the ships to then dovetail straight into their scheduled long-term charters to carry out operations and maintenance (O&M) related activities for the development partners. The wind farm is a joint venture between SSE Renewables (40 per cent), Equinor (40 per cent) and Vårgrønn (20 per cent),

North Star has a £127 million finance package in place to fund its Dogger Bank SOV fleet newbuild programme, which will result in four of its hybrid-electric ships being operational in field by 2026, each on a ten-year minimum term charter agreement. The firm employs some 1,300 personnel out of its facilities in Aberdeen, Newcastle and Lowestoft.

Michael Gordon, North Star commercial director, said: “Winning this new scope of work at Dogger Bank - our first in construction and commissioning - is part of our focus to be a true value add service partner. We are extremely proud to be recognised as a dependable operator delivering these vessels to the project ahead of schedule during a market which is finding significant supply chain issues cascading throughout the SOV sector. Achieving this is testament to the hard work and dedication of our 130-strong shoreside team and carefully selected shipyard.”

The firm has also begun work on the construction of its first two commissioning SOVs, after awarding the contract to VARD in Norway in May.