Seaway Moxie to support O&M ops at Beatrice OWF

Seaway Moxie is set to be deployed on the Beatrice offshore wind farm at the end of January for walk-to-work operations during an operations & maintenance (O&M) campaign at the wind farm, located some 13 kilometres off the coast of Caithness in Scotland.

According to the wind farm’s latest Notice to Mariners, work will commence on 28 January and will be taking place for around 44 days, subject to weather conditions.

Seaway Moxie, whose AIS data shows that it is currently on its way to the Port of Eemshaven, will be conducting walk-to-work operations using a personnel transfer gangway system for the transfer of technicians and cargo to Beatrice’s 84 wind turbines and two offshore transformer modules (OTMs).

The 588 MW offshore wind farm was officially opened by HRH Prince Charles of Wales on 29 July 2019. It delivered first power in July 2018, shortly after Swire Blue Ocean’s jack-up vessel Pacific Orca installed the first turbine. The last of its 84 Siemens Gamesa 7 MW turbines was commissioned in May 2019.

As the majority shareholder, SSE Renewables led the construction process and is managing O&M from its base in Wick, with a 15-year maintenance agreement in place with Siemens.

This month (January 2021), Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) announced that it was selling its 35 per cent stake in the 588 MW offshore wind farm to The Renewables Infrastructure Group (TRIG) and funds managed by Equitix Investment Management Limited.

Subject to regulatory and lender consents, Beatrice will be owned by SSE plc (40 per cent), Red Rock Power Limited (25 per cent), TRIG (17.5 per cent) and funds managed by Equitix Investment Management Limited (17.5 per cent).