Offshore wind farms may be able to capture more power than their closer-to-land counterparts, but servicing them becomes a complex challenge in the midst of rough seas. With offshore wind farms already operational along the coasts of Europe and China and planned worldwide, a Dutch company has designed a ship specifically for maintaining windmills far from the coast.
The Sea-Wind, a creation of Offshore Ship Designers, is designed as a "mother ship" for the catamaran workboats that carry engineers to the windmills. Crews would be brought to and from the ship either by other boats or the same kinds of helicopters usually enlisted to bring workers to oil rigs.
"The sheer distance and exposed location of offshore Round 3 wind farms makes service from a port difficult, expensive, risky and time wasting," said Neil Patterson, managing director of Offshore Ship Designers' UK company OSD-IMT, referring to the third round of wind farms to be built in the United Kingdom. Such farms would be as far as 78 miles from shore and require routine maintenance that would be costly -- if not impossible depending on weather -- if smaller, individual boats were sent out from shore.
"By remaining on site rather than returning to port between maintenance visits the Sea-Wind WFM vessel design will reduce transit time and energy getting to and from the fields, and will maximise the use of good weather windows," Patterson said.
When built, the Sea-Wind will be over 185 feet long and feature a floodable dock accessible from the stern in addition to a helipad . On board, the vessel will be capable of housing 200 crew members and support staff in single-berth cabins. Amenities will include offices, a movie theater, cafeteria and bakery, lounges, stores, recreational facilities and doctor and dentist offices. The shipbuilder also is trying to reduce the carbon footprint of the vessel itself, with renewable energy devices to supplement the diesel-electric generators on board.
"The Sea-Wind concept has the engineers and working platforms safely on site, and will have an onboard capacity to carry out larger repairs without returning to land," Patterson said.
