Vattenfall engages record vessel for offshore wind energy

Vattenfall and Stadtwerke München will build the DanTysk offshore wind farm as a joint project managed by a team based in Hamburg. On Thursday, the consortium signed a deal with the Danish shipping company Swire Blue Ocean (SBO) on a vessel for the transportation and installation of 80 Siemens wind turbines.

With an advanced specification focusing on safety, efficiency and reliability, including the ability to operate in water depths of up to 75 metres, the vessel Pacific Orca offers operational flexibility in the installation of the offshore wind farm.

“Since there is limited availability of suitable offshore vessels on the market, we are especially glad to obtain this large vessel to DanTysk,” says Georg Friedrichs, Head of Offshore Projects Vattenfall. “The newly built vessel Pacific Orca meets our criteria with outstanding safety, efficiency and reliability. Our project team is looking forward to realising the construction of DanTysk together with our new Danish partner Swire Blue Ocean.”

SBO won the European wide tender, based also on the strength of its parent company Swire Pacific Offshore, which holds more than 30 years’ experience in offshore marine operations and operates one of the largest fleets of dynamically positioned vessels in the world. Pacific Orca will be certified by GL-Group Germanischer Lloyd in line with strict European environmental standards.

“We are delighted to have been selected as the vessel provider for the turbine installations for DanTysk,” says Lars Blicher, General Manager and Director of Swire Blue Ocean. “This project will provide a great opportunity for SBO to demonstrate the enhanced capabilities and efficiencies of our vessel and the high standards of operational and safety performance of our personnel.”

Commencing in 2013, Pacific Orca will load the wind turbines at Esbjerg before being transported to the DanTysk construction site 69 km west of the island of Sylt in the German North Sea.

Vattenfall currently develops, constructs and owns wind farms in six countries, including the neighbouring offshore wind farm Horns Rev I (160 MW) on the Danish border. Vattenfall is building and planning offshore wind farms along the British coast as well. The next offshore wind farm to be commissioned at the end of 2011 is Ormonde, situated in the Irish Sea with the capacity of 150 MW.

Electricity generation from offshore wind farms is part of Vattenfall’s climate ambitions and Vattenfall is investing in renewable energy for the long-term reduction of CO2 emissions.

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