Ørsted signs 15-year vessel contract for the Greater Changhua 1 an 2 offshore wind project

Ørsted has announced the signing of a 15-year vessel contract with Ta San Shang Marine Co. Ltd., a joint venture of Ta Tong Marine Group (TTM) and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL), chartering the shipping company to build the service operation vessel (SOV) for the operation and maintenance (O&M) of Ørsted's Greater Changhua offshore wind farms.

Scheduled for delivery in early 2022, the SOV will use the Port of Taichung as its base port, where Ørsted's future O&M facilities will be located, due to its proximity to the sites, water depths for accommodating deep-draft vessels, and navigational access. The SOV will be utilized to provide top-quality O&M services for the Greater Changhua offshore wind farms, which will be located 35 to 60 kilometers off the Changhua coastline.

The SOV is the first to be built to fit the complicated and harsh environment in the Taiwan Strait. It will house up to 60 technicians plus the crew and will only need to return to shore once a month. The smaller crew transfer vessels (CTVs), also used to facilitate O&M activities, can only carry a maximum of 24 people and have to return to shore on a daily basis.

The SOV will also use a dynamic positioning system to automatically maintain its position and a 3D motion-compensated crane to mitigate wind induced motions on the loads to further ensure that technicians can carry out maintenance in a safe environment. Equally important is the well-being of the O&M technicians. As their 'home away from home', the SOV will feature comfortable cabins, a recreational lounge area, fitness facilities, and a variety of healthy catering.

In addition, the vessel will have a design of environmentally improved capabilities. It will be prepared for fossil-fuel-free operation and have an optimized hull design and a battery-hybrid set up to help reduce fuel consumption and decrease carbon footprint. These high specifications, which are drawn from Ørsted's state-of-the-art SOV fleet deployed in Europe, well demonstrate the company's extensive and unparalleled expertise across the entire offshore wind industry value chain.