The first hybrid crew transfer vessels are heading to the Humber.
Ørsted is to welcome a fleet of three battery-supported boats to serve Hornsea Two offshore wind farm’s construction.
It comes as the huge inward investor was named as the world’s most sustainable energy company for a third successive year.
The company has worked alongside Sweden's Northern Offshore Services and Denmark's MHO-Co to develop the innovative vessels which will take around four hours to travel to site, from Grimsby.
They will also carry Dutch company Z-Bridge’s newly developed motion compensated transfer system, called Bring-to-Work - a trolley lift that replaces the step off and climb for technicians.
Jan Stilling, lead marine specialist for Ørsted said: “The new CTV’s have incorporated large battery capacity that makes it possible to stay offshore overnight in hybrid mode meaning they’re not burning fuel for up to eight hours while the vessels keep their positions without anchoring or mooring to a buoy.
“The new gangways will work as additional support for the extra access required during construction on site.”
NOS will take delivery of the 39-metre Energizer this spring, and MHO-Co is due to deliver two 35-metre CTVs in the summer.
The batteries installed on all three vessels can be recharged either by power surplus, the onboard generator or via a recharging buoy system that will be tested during the construction phase of the wind farm. That was revealed in September, with Business Live understanding Hornsea Two would be the target pilot at the time.
Both designs have been created in preparation for implementing fuel-cell technology once suitable storage for the fuel types such as hydrogen or methanol has been developed for use onboard.
David Kristensson, NOS chief executive, said: “Energizer, the first CTV in our E-Class series, represents years of research and development and will provide the best possible performance during the most difficult sea conditions. In addition, I am very excited about our new hybrid solutions that will reduce both the fuel consumption as well as the emissions at sea. The Hornsea Two project represents the perfect start for our new vessel series.”
In a world first, MHO-Co’s vessels feature both a diesel mechanical and a diesel electric Inboard Performance System driveline setup in both hulls. The diesel electrical drivelines can also be powered from the large onboard researchable battery pack during night-time and slow steaming.
Mik Henriksen, MHO-Co chief executive, said: "The MHO Asgard and the MHO Apollo are the next step towards carbon neutral operations. As with our previous CTVs we have worked with Ørsted to design superior sea keeping to support wind farms further offshore, with a high level of comfort for the technicians. These new boats will also be used to take next step technologies like hydrogen fuel cells, methanol and new types of batteries to market.”
Scheduled for completion in 2022, Hornsea Two will become the world’s largest offshore wind farm, with a capacity to generate 1.4GW of clean energy, enough to power 1.3 million homes in the Ƶ.
