Danish renewables giant Orsted has chartered three innovative hybrid crew transfer vessels (CTVs) that could run on hydrogen in the future.
Shipowners Northern Offshore Services (NOS) and MHO-Co ordered the units last year.
They have now been taken by Orsted to work on its new Hornsea Two offshore wind farm off north-eastern England.
NOS will take delivery of the 39-metre Energizer this spring, while Denmark's MHO-Co will receive its two 35-metre vessels in the summer.
David Kristensson, group chief executive at NOS, told TradeWinds that the vessel is being built at GMV-Grovfjord Mekaniske Verksted in Norway.
The MHO-Co duo is under construction at Afai Southern Shipyard in China.
Orsted lead marine specialist Jan Stilling said: "The new CTVs have incorporated large battery capacity that makes it possible to stay offshore overnight in hybrid mode, meaning they're not burning fuel for up to eight hours, while the vessels keep their positions without anchoring or mooring to a buoy."
New charging system
The batteries installed on all three ships can be recharged by power surplus, the onboard generator or via a recharging buoy system that will be tested during the construction phase of the wind farm.
Both designs have been created in preparation for implementing fuel-cell technology once suitable storage for hydrogen or methanol has been developed.
The trip to the farm will take about four hours from Grimsby.
Z-Bridge’s new motion compensated transfer system, Bring-to-Work, will be fitted on the newbuildings.
Kristensson said NOS' ship represents years of research and development and will provide the best possible performance in the most difficult sea conditions.
MHO-Co already has two CTVs working at Hornsea Two for Orsted.
Biggest wind farm in the world
Scheduled for completion in 2022, the site will become the world's largest offshore wind farm, with a capacity to generate 1.4 GW, enough to power 1.3m homes.
Earlier this month, NOS clinched a charter deal with Orsted for seven CTVs.
The charters will cover the next three years, with the first vessels starting their deals at the beginning of this year. Others will "gradually" join Orsted until the summer.
The CTVs will operate on the Walney, Walney Extension, West of Duddon Sands, Barrow, Burbo Bank and Burbo Bank Extension offshore wind farms.
