A2SEA (owned 51 % by Dong Energy and 49 % by Siemens Wind Power) has signed has signed a contract with a Chinese company for the construction of a new jack-up vessel specially designed to install offshore wind turbines.
The value of the contract is about US$ 155 million.
The vessel will be identical to “Sea Installer”, ordered in 2010, but extended by a longer crane able to lift up to 900 tons. The new vessel will be 132 m long and 39 m wide and its speed will be around 12 knots.
It will operate at water depths of up to 45 m, and is expected to be delivered in 2014.
Jens Frederik Hansen,A2SEA says that:
“With the fast growing offshore market in Northern Europe, we can already today see that the demand for installation vessels will grow dramatically. With the new vessel we take a big step continuing to shorten the time of installation and thereby bringing down the cost of energy from offshore wind energy.”