Edison Chouest Offshore has been awarded a long-term service operations vessel (SOV) charter deal by Empire Offshore Wind, a joint venture between Equinor and BP.
The deal will see the Louisiana-based offshore vessel operator deliver the first plug-in hybrid SOV in the US offshore wind sector capable of sailing partly on battery power.
The vessel will accommodate up to 60 wind turbine technicians and will be utilised for operations and maintenance of the Empire Wind 1 and Empire Wind 2 offshore wind farms, with a combined capacity of around 2.1 GW. The charter agreement has a fixed period of 10 years, with commencement in the mid-2020s.
The US-flagged vessel will be Jones Act compliant and have its home port at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal in New York, where Equinor and BP are investing in port upgrades to help transform the site into an offshore wind hub. The SOV will be built with components from ECO’s supplier base across 34 US states.
