Hybrid vessel wins sustainability award

Subsea 7 and Eidesvik Offshore were presented with the International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA) Environmental Sustainability Award for 2019. The companies co-own Seven Viking,which in January 2019 was successfully converted from a conventional to a hybrid vessel as part of its long-term Inspection, Repair and Maintenance (IRM) services contract with Equinor in Norway.

The vessel previously worked for Equinor on a five-year contract and started a new five-year contract with the company in January 2019, through i-Tech 7, Subsea 7’s Life of Field business unit.

Range of benefits

Robin Mawhinney, i-Tech 7’s director for Europe, Africa and Canada, said: “Since its launch in 2013, Seven Viking has been an innovative and successful IRM vessel. We are delighted with the success of this conversion and see it as a promising step towards improving the environmental footprint of this vessel.”

The conversion, which involved the installation of a battery system and land-based power supply, delivers a range of benefits including significant fuel savings, emission reductions from ship operations, reduced maintenance costs on diesel engines and increased flexibility in the use of power generation plants.

Additional benefits include improved dynamic positioning capability performance, shore power connections for energy supply whilst quayside, and innovative features such as the ability to regenerate power from project equipment and to charge autonomous ROVs in the field.

By Rebecca Jeffrey