UK Companies Forge O&M Services Alliance

Outlook & Strategy

October 31, 2023, by Adnan Memija

RES, GEV Wind Power, Outreach Offshore, and Rix Renewables have launched the Offshore Wind O&M Partnership (OWOP) to supply a complete package of long-term operations and maintenance (O&M) services to offshore wind asset owners.

The Partnership aims to reduce the complexity and resource intensity associated with the traditional way of subcontracting for multiple O&M services, allowing asset owners to benefit from a much more strategic approach while also ensuring execution to the highest safety standards, according to the press release.

Through just one contract, asset owners will have access to all typical turbine, blade, substation, and balance of plant O&M services as well as workboats and advanced digital tools.

“We’ve launched this partnership to ease the operational headache wind asset owners can face when organising O&M services. As the number of offshore wind assets continues to grow, the traditional way of contracting O&M services is becoming more complex and tiresome. At the same time, we are seeing a growing trend towards multi-service scopes, but few providers are able to respond competitively,” said Simon Deacon, Operations and Maintenance Director for RES.

By creating a one-stop-shop for all core O&M services, the Partnership, a collective of complementary service companies based in the UK, combines nearly 100 years of experience to offer a highly coordinated, agile approach that will minimise shutdowns and maximise asset performance, the partners said.

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Underpinned by technology, the Partnership will coordinate multiple schedules of work, achieving greater levels of efficiency across asset downtime and technician attendance, while freeing up management time to focus on the ever-growing pipeline of offshore wind projects, according the companies.

“The launch of the Offshore Wind O&M Partnership is an exciting opportunity for all involved, bringing a new model of working that will unlock a level efficiency that is very difficult to achieve when individual scopes are subcontracted to multiple suppliers,” said Lee Blanchard, Director for Rix Renewables.

The UK has the world’s second-largest installed offshore wind capacity, with a government target to more than triple this capacity by 2030 to 50 GW, including 5 GW of floating offshore wind.