Ocean Winds hires Føn Energy Services in Scotland

Ocean Winds, a 50/50 joint venture between EDP Renewables and ENGIE, has contracted Føn Energy Services to provide a fully integrated Balance of Plant (BoP) operations and maintenance (O&M) service program for the Moray East and Moray West offshore wind farms in Scotland.

The contract is valid for three years, with an option to extend for up to two years.

Føn Energy Services’ integrated BoP O&M offering covers inspection and corrective maintenance, including management of the teams, vessels, planning, logistics, engineering, procurement, and project management.

The company said it will synergize the delivery of vessels, survey equipment, and personnel to carry out above-water and subsea inspections on all 160 wind turbines, substation foundations, and subsea cables, optimized both across the two wind farms and the work scope.

“With the UK being one of our focus offshore wind markets we are extremely pleased to have established a foothold in Scotland and our plan is that we within the next years will continue to grow and invest both in Scotland and in the rest of the UK,” said Sindre Rhrich, interim CEO of Føn Energy Services.

Above-sea-level works will see Føn Energy Services handling the inspection and maintenance of wind turbine foundations and substructures, power cable terminations, and offshore substation platform foundations.

The O&M scope for the subsea works will cover components including inter-array cables, foundations, and scour protection.

The company will provide geophysical surveys, scour surveys of wind turbines and offshore substation foundations, bathymetric surveys of subsea cables, cable protection systems, and surrounding seabed.

In addition, the firm will carry out multibeam surveys of cable routes for subsea components related to the offshore substation foundations.

Located some 22 kilometers off Aberdeenshire, the 950 MW Moray East offshore wind farm comprises 100 Vestas V164-9.5MW wind turbines that have been in operation since the beginning of 2022.

As for Moray West, the 882 MW project is nearing the end of the construction phase, with the last Siemens Gamesa SG 14-222 DD turbine installed in November.

The offshore wind farm is expected to be fully operational in 2025.