SOV Servicing UK's Hornsea Wind Farm Hits and Damages Wind Turbine

 

One of the modern Service Operations Vessels designed specifically to service offshore wind farms was involved in an incident yesterday, September 19. There were no injuries to the crew and technicians aboard but the vessel struck one of the turbines resulting in damage to both the vessel and the base of the turbine.

The SOV is the Wind of Hope, the second of two SOVs built for French company Louis Dreyfus Armateurs (LDA) by the Cemre Shipyard in Turkey. The vessel is 6,500 gross tons and has a length of 275 feet (84 meters) with accommodations for 90 people. The ship was delivered in July 2021 and like the new generation vessels of the class, has dynamic positioning and safety features including a walk-to-work telescopic motion compensated gangway. 

Few details were provided, but according to LDA, the vessel allided with one of the turbines at 1838 last evening in daylight. The contact caused damage to the starboard side of the vessel above the waterline and the helideck. There was also some damage to the base of the turbine.

The Wind of Hope is operating under charter to Ørsted for the Hornsea offshore wind farm located approximately 75 miles east of Hull and Grimsby, UK in the North Sea. Hornsea 1 has been in operation since 2020 with 174 turbines and is part of the largest offshore wind complex which will ultimately consist of four sections. 

The vessel shows that it had departed the base in Grimsby on September 17. LDA reports there are 26 crew members and 46 specialist personnel on board, none of whom were injured. There was no water ingress, nor pollution reported. The vessel is on its way back to Grimsby for a full assessment of the damage.

Ørsted is reported to have created an exclusion zone around the turbine involved in the incident.