DONG Energy chooses ESVAGT for Hornsea 1

ESVAGT extends its strong UK presence: the ’Esvagt Castor’ will be standby and man overboard rescue vessel on the 1,200 mW offshore wind energy farm project in the UK sector.

DONG Energy has chosen ESVAGT as partner in establishing the first offshore wind farm to break the 1 gigawatt barrier; the 1,200 mW offshore wind farm, Hornsea 1, off Grimsby in the UK sector of the North Sea.

The ’Esvagt Castor’ will work as standby vessel and man overboard rescue vessel during the building of the offshore wind farm, which currently consists of a meteorological mast and half a dozen buoys and which, in 2020, will supply CO2 neutral power to around 850,000 homes.

“Activity levels in the offshore wind farm are expected to be high in the years to come while the wind farm is being established. We were chosen because of our ability to launch FRBs and rescue people in all weather conditions. The safety that we can guarantee was the deciding factor,” says Ib Hansen, Head of Commercial for ESVAGT

With this contract, ESVAGT continues to gain market share in the strategically important UK market, where the company already has 14 vessels on contract. With the exception of the ’Esvagt Njord’, the Service Operations Vessel assigned to the Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm, the majority of vessels work in the British oil and gas sector. The ’Esvagt Castor’ gives the company a firmer grasp on the offshore wind energy market.

“Hornsea 1 is an example of how the competences we possess are in demand in both segments. The ’Esvagt Castor’ comes from oil and gas contracts in the Norwegian sector, and it is good to see that the same competences can also make a difference in offshore wind,” says Ib Hansen.