Wind energy developer Ørsted launched the latest addition to its fleet of offshore wind support vessels (SOVs) on 21 September. The ‘Wind of Hope’ is a state-of-the-art ship being built at Cemre Shipyard in Turkey for owners and Ørsted industrial partner Louis Dreyfus Armateurs.
The vessel Hope is expected to arrive at Ørsted’s east coast operations and maintenance facility at the UK port of Grimsby next year.
The vessel will be operated out of Hornsea Two offshore wind farm, accommodating up to 64 technicians who will service and maintain the wind turbines and an additional vessel crew.
Morten Holm, head of operations for Hornsea Two at Ørsted, said: “We’re extremely pleased to be able to reach this exciting milestone for the wind farm. Technicians will spend two weeks at a time onboard this vessel as they live, eat and sleep onboard whilst working offshore. The Wind of Hope has been designed with comfort and practicality in mind.”
Totalling a length of 84m, the SOV is two metres longer than the new Hornsea Two blades which have been manufactured locally at Siemens Gamesa’s blade factory in Hull.
Working as an accommodation base, the Wind of Hope has been fitted with a number of modifications intended to ensure that shift patterns offshore are as comfortable as possible for the crew.
A motion compensated gangway allows technicians to walk to work from the ship directly onto the transition piece of the turbine they are required to access, whilst the onboard helideck enables efficient crew and cargo transfers to take place.
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