The first US-flagged Jones Act offshore wind farm service operation vessel (SOV) ever ordered will be built to American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) standards.
The SOV will be engineered, constructed and operated by Edison Chouest Offshore (ECO) for long-term charter to service Orsted and Eversource’s planned Revolution Wind, South Fork Wind and Sunrise Wind offshore wind farms in the northeast United States.
ABS senior vice president for global offshore Matt Tremblay said: “ABS’ unique understanding of the US regulatory environment and our industry-leading offshore experience means we are uniquely well placed to support projects such as this.
“We are fully committed to supporting development of the US offshore wind industry and proud to be part of this initiative, which will play a key role in delivering its exciting potential.”
ECO president and chief executive Gary Chouest said: “We are unique in the US offshore marine vessel industry with our own in-house design and engineering group, our own shipyards, and a wealth of expertise in the offshore industry.
“This puts us in an industry-leading position as the only US company capable of fully engineering, constructing and operating specialized vessels for this market.
“ECO put the first deep water support vessel in the Brazil offshore market with the Damon Chouest in 1991.
“ECO put the first purpose designed and built deep water support vessel in the Gulf of Mexico with the Amy Chouest in 1992.
“And now ECO will again be first by placing the first SOV in the U.S. windfarm market.”
The 80 metre-long vessel will be capable of housing 70 passengers/wind turbine technicians.
It will operate on diesel electric power meeting EPA Tier 4 emission standards and will feature proprietary ECO Variable Frequency Drive to substantially reduce fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.