MOL announced the signing of contracts to build and charter a service operation vessel (SOV, Note 1) that will provide maintenance support for the Greater Changhua Wind Farms in Taiwan.

On April 1st, MOL and Ta Tong Marine (TTM) signed a charter contract for the SOV with Ørsted Taiwan Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ørsted A/S in Denmark, through Ta San Shang Marine Co. Ltd., a joint company of MOL and TTM.

At the same time, Ta San Shang Marine signed a contract with VARD Singapore Pte. Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of VARD Group A/S in Norway, to build the new vessel.

The SOV is designed by VARD Design in Norway and is slated to be delivered at Vard Vung Tau (a VARD subsidiary shipyard in Vietnam) during the first half of 2022. Then, it will provide maintenance support operations for the Greater Changhua Wind farms under development by Ørsted, for a term of 15 years, with an extension option to 20 years. This marks the first SOV project in Taiwan, and in fact, in all of Asia.

SOVs are ships specially designed to support maintenance of offshore wind farms utilized mainly in Europe which is a center of offshore windfarm industry and expected to be utilized in Taiwan (Note 2) and other Asian areas with expansion of offshore windfarms.

Through its tie-up with Ta Tong Marine, its longtime business partner in Taiwan,  MOL is moving ahead to further develop and expand a new business domain in the emission-free field by building a new relationship with Ørsted, the world’s largest operator of offshore wind farms, backed by business experience in Taiwan and know-how accumulated in the offshore business, such as offshore operation using dynamic positioning system (DPS) and offshore accommodation.

The MOL Group anticipates customer needs and the demands of the times to continually drive and grow the “environmental and emission free business,” striving to reduce its environmental impact.

(Note 1): What is a Service Operation Vessel (SOV)?

An SOV has accommodation for maintenance technicians working on the various wind turbines that make up an offshore wind farm, allowing them to stay on-site for extended periods.

SOVs are equipped with a dynamic positioning system (DPS) to constantly maintain a safe distance between the vessel and offshore wind farm, as well as a special gangway with a motion compensation function (absorbing hull movement due to wind and wave action, and so on), allowing the technicians to move safely between the vessel and the offshore wind turbines.

(Note 2) Offshore Windfarm in Taiwan

Taiwan strait, which is beside west coast of Taiwan Island, is endowed with suitable wind conditions for offshore wind farm. 5.5GW of construction of offshore windfarm from 2020 to 2025 has been approved and additional 10GW of offshore wind farm construction is now planned from 2026 to 2035.

【SOV Basic Specs】

【Greater Changhua Offshore Windfarm】

【Ørsted】

【TTM】

【VARD】