Norwegian technology company Vissim AS has won a contract to provide a system designed to optimise marine operations on the Moray West wind farm offshore Scotland.
Under the contract, Vissim will provide its marine optimisation and planning software for the offshore wind farms, including certification and induction management, permit to work, and vessel and personnel tracking within Vissim’s real-time decision support framework that includes working weather windows and warning management options, all delivered on Ocean Winds cloud infrastructure.
“Marine optimisation systems enable wind farm developers to minimise construction and operating risk and to lower costs and environmental footprint. They do this by supporting the optimal use of personnel, vessels, and other assets, taking external factors such as weather and wave height into account. Vissim systems have been designed to improve the safety and cost-efficiency of all marine operations,” said Nicholas Dent, Managing Director of Global Wind at Vissim.
The contract consists of start-up, support, and monthly software license costs, and is aligned with Moray West’s construction period. The value of the contract hasn’t been disclosed.
The 882 MW Moray West project, developed by Ocean Winds, a 50-50 joint venture between global energy company EDP Renewables and French utility company ENGIE, aims to generate its first power in 2024, with an operational life of over 25 years. It will feature Siemens Gamesa’s offshore Direct Drive wind turbines.
“As a developer we are constantly looking for ways to minimise project execution risk and to make our operations more cost-efficient. Our experience with Vissim’s marine optimisation system at Moray East demonstrated that it can be a valuable enabler for planning and carrying out safe and efficient marine operations. The result is reduced HSE risk, lower costs and lower environmental footprint. This of course benefits us as a developer but it also benefits our teams, our contractors, and society as a whole,” said Magnus Currie, Ocean Winds Construction Services Package Manager.
Vissim, based in Horten, Norway, is a software developer and turnkey sensor and infrastructure provider for advanced marine optimisation systems around the globe. Its systems are now used at 3.5 GW of offshore wind farms in Scotland alone, including its ongoing performance at the Moray East wind farm.