Denmark: ESVAGT and MHI Vestas Offshore Wind sign 10-year SOV contract

A new 10-year contract with MHI Vestas Offshore Wind servicing the 165 MW Nobelwind project has further established ESVAGT as a leading offshore wind operator.

Situated 50 km off the Belgian coast the Nobelwind project, together with the existing Belwind 1 project, will require a purpose built service operation vessel (SOV) to support the technicians working in the park.

ESVAGT has commissioned Norwegian ship designers Havyard to design the purpose build SOV for the project; a unique type of ship and service concept developed by ESVAGT in synergy with MHI Vestas & Havyard Design.

The vessel as well as the service concept draws on several years of experience in servicing wind farms further offshore. For the past five years, ESVAGT has provided the base for MHI Vestas Offshore Wind technicians servicing the 165 MW Belwind 1 project, and the new contract continues that partnership.

MHI Vestas Senior Director Asger Pedersen: “Over the last five years we have been extremely satisfied with the performance of the vessel supplied by ESVAGT and it was a natural choice to continue our partnership. The new purpose built vessel has been designed to provide flexibility for the teams who will be providing operational support for different technology types. We are looking forward to seeing the new vessel in service from 2017.”

ESVAGT Managing Director Søren Nørgaard Thomsen is equally delighted: “We are very pleased that MHI Vestas has decided to enter into a new contract with ESVAGT. MHI Vestas believed in the ESVAGT concept from the beginning. During the past 5 years, we have worked closely together to continuously improve efficiency and safety. We therefore see the new contract for a purpose build ship as a clear signal that our ESVAGT concept has been a success”.

The new purpose build SOV will be 58.5m in length, with a beam of 16.6 m and be able to support up to 22 technicians in single cabins. It comes equipped with ESVAGTs unique safe transfer boats (ESVAGT STB) to transfer technicians, tools and spare parts to the turbines. 

The vessel will be built at Cemre Shipyard in Turkey and will be delivered and commence service in the second half of 2017.