VARD, one of the world’s major designers and shipbuilders of specialized vessels, recently announced it has secured contracts for the design and construction of three service operation vessels (SOVs) for North Star Renewables in Scotland. The state-of-the-art hybrid trio will operate on the Dogger Bank Wind Farm in the North Sea.
The SOVs were developed by VARD in close cooperation with Aberdeen-based North Star, which has secured 10-year charter contracts for the trio from Dogger Bank Wind Farm in a broad international competition. The charters include options for three one-year extensions. Dogger Bank is currently under construction by joint-venture partners SSE Renewables, Equinor, and Eni and, when completed, will be the world’s largest offshore wind farm.
“We’ve worked closely with the team at VARD for over two years on the development of our SOVs for Dogger Bank,” said North Star Renewables CEO Matthew Gordon. “I’m delighted to be able to say that the work, which went into designing the vessels to meet the optimal standards of workability, comfort, safety, and sustainability, has resulted in us securing the award of three vessels on long term charters, which is a huge step for North Star on our journey to becoming a leading player within the SOV market. It’s exciting that these designs will now move into the construction phase, and continuing that journey with VARD is a natural extension of our strong relationship. We’re confident that we have a high-quality design and build partner that will support us in bringing these advanced new vessels to the market.”
Two of Vard Design concept designers, Thomas Brathaug and Stian Ona, have intimate knowledge of the vessels having spent many man-hours turning specifications into reality. Brathaug said one will be of the VARD 4 19 design and the other two of its VARD 4 12 design.
“The VARD 4 19 design has been developed specifically to handle planned maintenance on the Dogger Bank A and B wind arrays,” Brathaug said. “It is tailored for operations in the harsh North Sea environment more than 130 kilometers off the north-east coast of England. Crew well-being is vital to ensure safe and efficient operations, so safety and comfort have been a strong focus throughout the process.”
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