Global offshore wind champion Orsted has signed a 15-year contract with Ta San Shang Marine, a joint venture between Taiwan’s Ta Tong Marine Group and Japan’s Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, chartering the shipping company to build a Taiwan-flagged service operation vessel (SOV).
The SOV will carry out operation and maintenance at the 900MW Greater Changhua 1 & 2a offshore wind farms that Orsted plans to have completed by early 2022, using Taichung as its base port.
"Orsted develops, constructs and operates offshore wind farms around the world and is pioneering and driving offshore wind development in Taiwan,” said Orsted’s general Taiwan manager Christy Wang.
“Not only are we building the O&M base in the Port of Taichung, we're also setting an unprecedented industry practice in Taiwan and the region by deploying the bespoke service operation vessel for the Greater Changhua offshore wind farms.”
The Danish utility says the SOV is the first to be built to fit the complicated and harsh environment in the Taiwan Strait.
It will house up to 60 technicians plus the crew and will only need to return to shore once a month. The smaller crew transfer vessels (CTVs), also used to facilitate O&M activities, can only carry a maximum of 24 people and have to return to shore on a daily basis.
The SOV will also use a dynamic positioning system to automatically maintain its position and a 3D motion-compensated crane to mitigate wind induced motions on the loads to further ensure that technicians can carry out maintenance in a safe environment.
Orsted in 2018 had also been awarded the right to build the 920MW Greater Changhua 2b & 4 sites, which - subject to the company taking a final investment decision – are to be built in 2025.
