Edison Chouest Offshore (ECO), Ørsted and Eversource have announced the execution of a long-term charter agreement for the provision of a US flagged Jones Act compliant Service Operations Vessel (SOV).The SOV will be engineered, constructed and operated by ECO as an integral part of the operation and maintenance of the Revolution Wind, South Fork Wind and Sunrise Wind offshore wind farms in the northeast USA, which are dependent on obtaining the necessary federal permits from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM).
The SOV will be utilised during the operation & maintenance (O&M) phases of the wind farm projects, serving as an at sea base of operations to accommodate and transfer technicians, tools and parts safely to and from the individual Wind Turbine Generators.
The vessel will be built at a combination of Edison Chouest’s shipyards in Florida and Mississippi. The vessel will be over 260 feet long and capable of housing 60 passengers. The SOV will include a below deck warehouse to palletize storage for wind farm tools, components and supplies. A Daughter Craft, with associated Launch and Recovery System and hydraulic height-compensating landing platform, will also be installed for infield turbine repair operations. The vessel will operate on diesel electric power and will operate from New York once in operation.