North Star has launched a major industry collaboration to develop next-generation service operations vessels (SOVs) for floating offshore wind projects.
The company has signed a memorandum of understanding with MO4, Principle Power, SMST, VARD and Voith Group to accelerate the design and testing of a high-performance SOV tailored specifically for floating offshore windfarms.
“Floating offshore wind presents both challenges and opportunities,” said Andrew Duncan, North Star’s renewables and innovations director.
“Through this collaboration, we can innovate and design a solution specifically tailored for GW-scale projects. Our goal is to create a best-in-class ship design that supports the rapid expansion of floating wind technology.”
Unique vessels
As offshore wind moves further into deeper waters, the demand for specialised SOVs is growing.
These vessels will meet the unique needs of large-scale projects, such as the 17GW of floating wind capacity awarded in the ScotWind leasing round.
The collaboration seeks to deliver an SOV that sets new benchmarks in safety, performance, and operational efficiency for the floating offshore wind sector.
North Star will lead the vessel design process, ensuring that logistics and service needs are fully integrated to meet real-world demands in the field.
Digital twin and AI decision support software firm, MO4, will be responsible for assessing the workability of the proposed SOV concept, focusing on vessel motions, gangway performance and the movement range of the floating wind turbine foundations.
Principle Power will contribute to designing, deploying and operating floating wind platforms to provide critical data on the range of motions expected from WindFloat platforms and to define operational use cases for inspection, maintenance and repair.
Offshore equipment design and build specialist, SMST, will bring its expertise in gangway technology, providing essential data on different walk-to-work options, workability parameters and solutions for landing height adjustments to ensure safe and efficient personnel transfers
As key integrator, VARD will combine inputs from all partners to develop a cohesive floating offshore wind ship design, ensuring that every aspect is optimised for performance and workability.
Voith Group, will contribute propulsion options, selecting the most suitable DP systems to maintain stability and performance in the challenging environment of floating offshore wind.
