TROUBLED Aberdeen company SeaEnergy has signed a letter of intent (LOI) with Norway’s Ulstein Group to co-develop new service vessels for the offshore wind industry.
As the offshore wind industry moves further from the coastline, new strategies are required to make these far offshore windfarms more cost-effective.
“The currently available units in this industry have shortcomings with respect to mobility, flexibility and operational window, which will have an even bigger impact when going further away from safe havens,” said Sea Energy’s Mike Comerford.
“In our philosophy, the vessels have to be more versatile and offer greater crew comfort so they can stay longer offshore instead of sailing back and forth into port every day. In Ulstein, we have found a partner that is able to translate our requirements into a competitive design.”
Both firms have been working together for some months to develop a design that will excel in operational characteristics. By signing the LOI, both companies want to tighten their relationship and underline that this will be a first step in jointly realising the needs of the industry.
SeaEnergy is planning vessels to perform both commissioning and maintenance works of wind turbines. Based on the radical and now proven Ulstein X-bow technology, two vessel designs are currently being developed in which operational and vessel systems will be fully integrated with each other.
The company was in local and renewables headlines last month as a result of the decision to put its wind-projects arm up for sale due to a lack of interest from sources of investment capital.
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