World’s first installation vessel wins 3-year O&M contract

The deal has been secured by Middlesbrough, UK-based MPI Offshore, a subsidiary of Dutch marine contractor Van Oord, and involves maintenance of turbines with a maximum power output of 5MW where MPI Resolution will provide ‘guaranteed availability’ for several months each year, primarily during the peak maintenance season from early March to late October.

Around 20 years ago construction started on the Kentish Flats offshore wind farm 9km offshore in the Thames Estuary at a time when the UK was embarking on its intensive offshore wind energy programme.

The initial phase involved thirty 3MW turbines in a maximum water depth of 5m and in 2013 consent was obtained for an additional 15 turbines with a slightly larger capacity of 3.3MW.

In comparison, SSE Renewable’s Dogger Bank wind farm, currently under construction in the North Sea, will eventually see close to three hundred 13MW turbines with even larger turbines of up to 20MW capacity under development in China.

Installation vessels have grown from the early converted offshore barges – either jack-up or secured by anchor-spreads with relatively small cargo capacities and modest capacity cranes – to the jack-up vessels of today. One example is Van Oord’s Boreas, currently under construction, which will be capable of operations in water depths up to 70m, its 155m long crane boom boasting a lifting capacity of more than 3,000t.

Pioneer

Built in China in 2003 for UK-based MPI, MPI Resolution was the world’s first purpose-built offshore wind turbine installation vessel and is seen as being somewhat ahead of its time.

That the principle of its configuration is the same as today’s modern equivalents is testament to the original design concept, even though its crane capacity of 600t and operating water depth of 35m is put into the shade by the likes of Boreas. At the time it was the ‘state of the art’ and became a requirement for the turbines of the day.

Over time, wind turbines inevitably experience wear and tear and while personnel access by crew transfer vessel is straight forward, from time to time heavy-lift will be needed to height and the installation-type vessel will be required again.

While such longer-term maintenance requirements will naturally be factored in for later in the wind farm’s life, such requirements can occur from day one.

As these vessels are usually booked well ahead on installation campaigns, sourcing one for a one-off job, perhaps not at a convenient location, has created a requirement for vessels with the required capabilities to be part of the operations and maintenance (O&M) schedule. As such, MPI Resolution can be seen as an ideal tool for such a role, while still a capable installation vessel in its own right.

For several years now MPI Offshore has delivered O&M services across Vattenfall’s entire portfolio of offshore wind farms in Europe with Pavlo Malyshenko, head of offshore generation at Vattenfall, saying: “We are pleased to announce this contract and look forward to deepening our relationship with Van Oord as a trusted partner.

“By ensuring the availability of the MPI Resolution, we anticipate significant improvements in our O&M activities.”

“Van Oord recognises the importance of strategic partnerships and we are proud that Vattenfall has once again selected us as a trusted partner to maintain their European offshore wind portfolio,” said Arnoud Kuis, managing director Offshore Energy with Van Oord.

“This new long-term framework contract for heavy maintenance, which succeeds our previous four-year framework contract, ensures the continuous deployment of our MPI Resolution in the growing O&M market.”