Danish company Ørsted, New England energy company Eversource and Louisiana-based shipping company Edison Chouest Offshore have announced that the US will receive an offshore wind farm service vessel in 2024. It will be Eco Edison, meeting all the requirements of the Jones Act, and will handle the operation of the offshore wind farms owned by the Ørsted-Eversource joint venture, which includes South Fork Wind, Revolution Wind and Sunrise Wind.
Eco Edison is the first service vessel to service offshore wind farms in the USA
Let’s start with the fact that the Jones Act is an American federal law that outlines the design requirements for surface built-up ships. It is important that the Eco Edison as an example of a service ship, i.e. in the form of a floating combination of a hotel, office and workshop section, will serve employees both in the form of a repair platform and a temporary home.
When embarking on the cruise, employees on Eco Edison will live, operate and maintain the wind farms in two-week rotations. The ship will be over 80 meters long and will accommodate 60 crew members. Before it can embark on its maiden voyage, however, it needs to be built, and indeed work on it, which involves 300 other workers, is already underway at Edison Chouest Offshore in Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida.
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Ultimately, the first offshore wind farm service vessel in the US will be powered by four Caterpillar 3512E EPA Tier 4 variable speed generator sets with a capacity of 1700 kW each. However, Ørsted says that the Eco Edison is being built with future zero carbon technology in mind, and that it is a high performance, low energy and low greenhouse gas unit.
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