US offshore wind development partners Ørsted and Eversource have agreed to charter five new crew transfer vessels (CTVs) from New York-based WindServe Marine and Massachusetts-based American Offshore Services (AOS) to serve their Northeast wind farms.
WindServe Marine’s affiliate shipyard, Senesco Marine, at Quonset Point in North Kingstown, will build three of the vessels, while AOS is partnering with Blount Boats & Shipyard, of Warren, to build another two vessels.
Construction work is expected to start early this year at Senesco on the 88-foot long WindServe vessels and at Blount Boats on the 101-foot long AOS vessels. All five vessels will be built over the next two years, ready to provide crew transfer support during the construction phases of the Ørsted and Eversource joint venture’s three Northeast projects. The first vessel will be completed by early 2023.
Ørsted and Eversource teamed up in December 2016 to launch a new clean energy industry in the US Northeast. The partnership has now grown to include three offshore wind farms, including the 704 MW Revolution Wind project serving Rhode Island and Connecticut; the 130 MW South Fork Wind serving Long Island, and the 924 MW Sunrise Wind project serving New York. The JV has the potential to more than double its existing portfolio within its current jointly-owned uncontracted offshore wind energy lease areas.
