Esvagt has been looking into finding an optimal Service Operations Vessel (SOV) solution for future offshore wind farms, which will also enable the company to tender for servicing tasks with a far more documented and substantiated basis.
The SOV owner and operator is drawing on its operational experience and several different designs both in existing farms and in future tenders which, together with a simulation tool, will help to find optimal logistical solutions for its customers.
According to Esvagt’s Business Development Manager, Ole Ditlev Nielsen, a Service Operations Vessel (SOV) with 40 technicians can service an offshore wind farm with 150-200 turbines.
The starting point was that an SOV needed to be able to service a wind farm with 80 turbines, however, that number of turbines has not come close to fully using the capacity of the SOVs, Nielsen explained. “After two and a half years with SOVs, we can conclude that the vessels can do much more. We need to take advantage of that potential so that we can help to drive down the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) from offshore wind.”