Upcoming sea trials of two vessels designed to meet the specific needs of the offshore wind industry will also be used by the UK’s Carbon Trust to test a set of vessel performance metrics.
The organisation hopes the metrics will eventually be adopted as an industry standard, allowing offshore wind developers and contractors to compare vessel options, explained Breeanne Gallatly, Carbon Trust delivery manager for the offshore wind accelerator (OWA) programme. Gallatly was speaking at Windpower Events’ Offshore Operations & Maintenance conference in London.
The vessel performance metrics have been designed to compare issues such as transit approach and crew transfer. The two vessels that will be used to test the metrics are amongst the 13 shortlisted by the Carbon Trust last year, as part of its OWA access competition. Windpower Offshore understands that a decision about which two vessels will be awarded the sea trials is due no earlier than the end of this month.
Twitter: @WPOffshore
