Offshore Marine Technology: 1st Quarter 2021
Norwegian shipbuilder Vard has been selected to design and build a biofuel/battery-powered cable-layer for Dutch marine/offshore contractor Van Oord.
The 130m x 28m ship will be a tweaked version of the Vard 9 02 design, and will assist with the construction and assembly of new offshore wind farms. Vard says: “This hybrid vessel will feature ‘future fuel’-ready engines with built-in flexibility to be powered with e-fuels and low-emissions synfuels.” Back-up will be supplied by a large battery pack, a shore supply connection and an energy management system.
The ship will be built at Vard’s yards in Brattvåg, Norway and Tulcea, Romania, and entry into service is expected in 2023.
Brunvoll will supply the newbuild’s complete propulsion and manoeuvring system, which will include: a pair of 2,100kW tunnel thrusters; a combined retractable azimuth/tunnel thruster, rated 1,500kW; and two azimuth propulsion thrusters, each rated 2,500kW. All thrusters are controllable-pitch. The tunnel thrusters and combined azimuth/tunnel thruster will be installed in the foreship.
