Ørsted’s newly built service operation vessel (SOV) Wind of Change has arrived in Emden, Germany, from where the vessel will soon start servicing offshore wind farms in the German North Sea.
Wind of Change is expected to enter full operations and start working on the Borkum Riffgrund 1 & 2 and Gode Wind 1 & 2 offshore wind farms as of 1 June.
The 83m SOV was ordered by the France-based Louis Dreyfus Armateurs (LDA) and built at the Cemre Shipyard in Turkey.
The vessel features diesel-electric propulsion and dynamic positioning (DP2) and is capable of accommodating more than 60 wind farm technicians.
The 450MW Borkum Riffgrund 2 offshore wind project comprises 56 MHI Vestas turbines which delivered first power to the grid in August 2018. It is located next to the 312MW Borkum Riffgrund 1 which was commissioned in 2015.
Located some 45km off the coast of Lower Saxony, the 582MW Gode Wind 1 & 2 has been in operation since 2017. The wind farm comprises 97 Siemens 6MW turbines, making it one of the largest offshore wind projects in Germany.
Photo: Lars Høy Jørgensen/Ørsted