United Kingdom – North Star Group in the UK has chosen VARD to design and build a Service Operation Vessel (SOV).

The VARD 4 12-designed vessel will be the fourth offshore wind farm support vessel (SOV) delivered by VARD to North Star for use in the North Sea’s Dogger Bank Wind Farm.

The third phase of the Dogger Bank Wind Farm will be supported by North Star’s new hybrid-powered renewables fleet, which the company has secured a long-term charter contract to deliver. VARD will construct and deliver the vessel, which should arrive at North Star in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Joint venture partners SSE Renewables, Equinor and Eni are currently building the Dogger Bank project, which will be the world’s largest offshore wind farm when completed.

Vard Design in lesund created the VARD 4 12 design. In the harsh North Sea environment, more than 130 kilometers off the north-east coast of England, the SOV for North Star was developed to handle maintenance services on the Dogger Bank C wind farms. The North Star’s expectations for workability, comfort, safety, and sustainability are met by the vessel’s design.

The vessel’s environmental footprint and operability have been a major concern during the design phase, and a hybrid battery solution and plans for carbon-neutral operations have been included. Effortless logistics have also been a major consideration in the design process. For cargo transfer, the ship will have a 3D-compensated crane and a motion-compensated, height-adjustable gangway with elevator system.

An entirely new SOV, measuring 78 meters long by 19 meters wide, will have 60 single cabins for guests. Vard Electro in Norway will supply SeaQ solutions for the hybrid vessel’s propulsion system, highly efficient main propellers, and tunnel thrusters with permanent magnet electric motors.

In addition to a SeaQ Energy Storage System Solution, the SOV will feature SeaQ Integrated Automation System (IAS), SeaQ Power Management System (PMS), SeaQ Energy Management System (EMS), and SeaQ Green Pilot (energy monitoring system). Fuel consumption and emissions can be reduced, as well as the vehicle’s responsiveness and safety.

VARD’s shipyard Vard Vung Tau in Vietnam will deliver the SOV in 2024. For the offshore and renewables markets, the shipyard has a wide range of vessels.