North Star, a leading service operations vessel (SOV) operator in the UK’s renewables industry, has activated a major industry collaboration aimed at solving one of the floating wind’s most pressing challenges: the delivery of high-performance operations and maintenance ships tailored for floating offshore wind farms.
The firm has signed memorandum of understanding with MO4, Principle Power, SMST, VARD, and Voith Group, to establish a dedicated working group of industry experts to help fast-track the design and testing of a new SOV concept. Together, the six organisations have committed to developing a detailed, high-performance ship design to meet the needs of commercial-scale projects, such as the 17GW of floating projects awarded in the ScotWind leasing round.
As offshore wind moves into deeper waters with floating wind turbines located far from shore, the sector faces significant logistical and operational challenges that must be addressed efficiently and cost effectively. While the industry has demonstrated the ability to safely complete transfers from traditional SOVs to floating wind platforms, there is room for improvement in transfers where both the vessel and platform are dynamic and in motion.
Commercial-scale projects provide the opportunity to optimise these transfers by enabling the development of bespoke SOVs operated under long-term contract that specifically address the local challenges and the requirements of floating wind project operators. This collaboration seeks to capitalise on this opportunity by delivering an SOV design that sets a new industry benchmark for safety, performance, and efficiency.
North Star’s renewables & innovations director Andrew Duncan said: “Floating offshore wind presents both challenges and opportunities, and through this collaboration, we can innovate, and design a solution specifically tailored for GW-scale projects. Our goal is to create an innovative, best-in-class ship design that supports the rapid expansion of floating wind technology. By pushing the boundaries of what’s possible, we can ensure that our future SOVs deliver the highest levels of safety, efficiency, and operational flexibility, ultimately paving the way for a more sustainable energy future.”
The partnership’s key contributions include:
- North Star with its extensive market intelligence and operational experience, will lead the vessel design process, ensuring that logistics and service needs are fully integrated to meet real-world demands in the field.
- Digital twin and AI decision support software firm MO4, will be responsible for assessing the workability of the proposed SOV concept, focusing on vessel motions, gangway performance, and the movement range of the floating wind turbine foundations.
- Principle Power will contribute its 15 years of experience designing, deploying, and operating floating wind platforms to provide critical data on the range of motions expected from WindFloat® platforms and to define operational use cases for inspection, maintenance, and repair, ensuring that the SOV is optimised for the next generation of floating wind projects
- International offshore equipment design and build specialist SMST, will bring its expertise in gangway technology, providing essential data on different walk-to-work options, workability parameters, and solutions for landing height adjustments to ensure safe and efficient personnel transfers
- As key integrator, VARD, a major global designer and specialised vessel shipbuilder, will combine inputs from all partners to develop a cohesive floating offshore wind ship design, ensuring that every aspect is optimised for performance and workability.
- Global technology company Voith Group, will contribute propulsion options, selecting the most suitable DP systems to maintain stability and performance in the challenging environment of floating offshore wind.
Andrew Duncan concluded: “We look forward to leveraging our collective expertise to drive this floating wind innovation forward. The detailed ship design will be put to the test through rigorous workability assessments, ensuring that it meets the highest standards of performance, safety, and efficiency before being implemented in future floating wind projects.”
About North Star:
North Star is the market leading UK provider of mission critical, offshore infrastructure support services to offshore wind and offshore oil and gas markets.
The firm has bases in Aberdeen, Lowestoft and Newcastle and Hamburg, and has a workforce of 1,400 seafarers and onshore personnel. It has been supporting the energy sector for the past four decades. Its offshore infrastructure support vessel fleet boasts 42 assets and provides continuous around the clock support services to more than 50 North Sea installations. The company’s first three of four Service Operations Vessels (SOVs), the Grampian Tyne, Grampian Derwent and Grampian Tees have been delivered to support the Dogger Bank Wind Farm partners, all are under charter for a 10-year minimum. The business has also invested in its first two Commissioning SOVs to support the growing European offshore wind market.
The 137-year-old business, which was originally established to support the fisheries industry, is also the country’s largest employer of offshore cadets. Since 1996, it has trained hundreds of future deck and engineering trainees, investing £1million annually on average to develop the next generation.
By combining safety, service and quality, the company delivers exceptional levels of support to its clients in one of world’s most challenging and demanding industries.
About Principle Power:
Principle Power is a pure play, global leader in floating wind technology, providing full lifecycle engineering services that ensure reliable, de-risked, and bankable solutions. Partnering with developers, independent power producers, utilities and EPCs, the company delivers integrated designs that minimize project risk and maximize energy output. The company’s “300×30” industrialization vision aims to build readiness to enable the deployment of 300 floating wind turbines worldwide by the end of 2030, driven by dedicated expert teams, validated design tools, and real-world operational experience. The WindFloat® portfolio, with four modular designs, is suitable for any project context or supply chain setup. With 105 MW capacity in operation or under construction, the technology has proven resilient in challenging weather conditions, delivering over 740 GWh of clean energy to the grid. Principle Power has secured contracts to supply WindFloat® technology to commercial-scale projects in all key floating wind markets, as well as platform inspection and maintenance repair services to WindFoat Atlantic and Kincardine, totalling 14+ GW of projects under design contract.
For more information, visit principlepower.com
About SMST:
SMST is a well-established supplier of equipment to the global offshore industry, with a strong focus on renewable energy. SMST’s products provide solutions for the safe and efficient transfer of people and cargo, for drilling, pipelaying and project solutions.
Through the unique combination of in-house design and engineering expertise, production facilities, testing capacity, worldwide installation and service, SMST delivers high quality engineering and product solutions that are distinctive in the offshore market.
In addition to prioritizing safety and efficiency, the products feature a modular design that offers maximum flexibility to the operations for the international offshore partners. For the offshore wind sector SMST has developed a complete system package, which includes a range of gangways adjustable for various heights, modular offshore cranes which can be equipped with various knuckle booms and active heave- and (3D) motion compensation, and special handling equipment.
SMST is committed to delivering high quality solutions along with comprehensive services and training. The company continuously improves its products and services to meet evolving industry standards, driving innovation and taking the industry to the next level.
About VARD:
VARD is one of the major global designers and shipbuilders of specialized vessels. Headquartered in Norway and with approximately 7,000 employees, VARD operates shipbuilding facilities in Norway, Romania, Brazil, and Vietnam. Through its specialized subsidiaries, VARD develops power and automation systems, deck handling equipment, and vessel accommodation solutions, and provides design and engineering services to the global maritime industry.
VARD’s long shipbuilding traditions, cutting-edge innovation and technology coupled with its global operations and track record in constructing complex and highly customized vessels have earned it recognition from industry players and enabled it to build strong relationships with its customers.
Fincantieri Oil & Gas S.p.A, a wholly owned subsidiary of FINCANTIERI S.p.A. Headquartered in Trieste, Italy, is majority shareholder of VARD with around 98 % of the shares. FINCANTIERI is one of the world’s largest shipbuilding groups, and a global leader in cruise ship design and reference player in all high-tech shipbuilding industry sectors. With over 230 years of history and more than 7,000 ships built, the Group today has a production network of 18 shipyards operating in four continents and over 20,000 employees.
About Voith Group:
Voith Group is a global technology company. With its wide range of plants, products, services and digital applications, Voith sets standards in the energy, paper, raw materials and transport & automotive markets. Founded in 1867, Voith today has around 22,000 employees, 5.5 billion euros in sales and locations in over 60 countries around the world, making it one of the largest family-owned companies in Europe.
The Voith Turbo Group Division is part of the Voith Group and a specialist in intelligent drive technology, systems and customized services. Through innovative and smart products, Voith offers maximum efficiency and reliability.
Voith Turbo’s marine division can look back on almost 100 years of history, with almost 5000 Voith Schneider Propellers built to date. This unique propeller type has been continuously developed and is characterized by the fastest and most accurate forces generation.
