WindPartner has started a two-month sea trial of a new daughter craft vessel called Sea Puffin at Vattenfall’s 158MW Horns Rev 1 and Orsted’s 209MW Horns Rev 2 offshore wind farms off the coast of Denmark.
The vessel design is based on surface-effect-ship technology and aims to be able to operate in the harsher weather conditions that will be experienced as wind farms are developed further out to sea.
It was designed by Norwegian company ESNA and supported by the Carbon Trust’s Offshore Wind Accelerator.
The 15-metre long craft uses an air cushion for active motion damping, allowing access capabilities beyond conventional daughter craft vessels, reducing fuel consumption and improving crew and passenger comfort during transit, Carbon Trust said.
A 15-tonne davit crane can be used to deploy the Sea Puffin from a mothership, although Sea Puffin will be operated from port during testing.
Carbon Trust offshore wind access systems manager Dan Kyle Spearman said: “The rapid progress of the Sea Puffin from concept to sea trials is another great example of collaborative research and development where industry and innovators are able to partner together to deliver state of the art, relevant vessels for the future of the industry.”
ESNA co-founder Trygve Espeland said: “The reduction of fuel consumption compared to other daughter craft or crew transfer vessels will help the operators of wind farms to significantly reduce emissions and the environmental footprint of O&M activities for many years to come.”
WindPartner chief executive Morten Mellerud said: “The Sea Puffin daughter craft concept offers much more cost effective access during construction, operation and maintenance of offshore wind farms.”
A cooperation agreement between WindPartner and ESNA aims to build several vessels of this type over the next few years.
Image: Carbon Trust
Horns Rev trial for Sea Puffin
By EBS