By Scott Wright
A NORTH East of Scotland company, which provides emergency support vessels to the oil and gas sector, has landed contracts worth around £270 million to work on the world’s biggest offshore wind farm.
Aberdeen-based North Star Renewables overcame global competition to win the deal to design and build three service operation vessels (SOVs) for the 3.6-gigawatt Dogger Bank Wind Farm, which is being built 130km off the Yorkshire coast in the North Sea.
The company said the tender success will allow it to create 130 new full-time UK-based crewing and shore-based roles for the lifetime of the contract. The new posts will be based across Scotland and the North East of England, boosting the 1,400-strong workforce. Around 350 of those jobs are in Scotland.
Dogger Bank is a venture between Perth-based SSE, Norwegian oil firm Equinor and Eni, the Italian energy firm. Eni joined the project when it acquired a 20 per cent stake in the A and B phases in December.
North Star will deliver the SOVs to operator Equinor from summer 2023. The vessels will be chartered to Dogger Bank by North Star for a ten-year period.
North Star chief executive Matthew Gordon said: “We are pleased and proud to establish a new relationship with Equinor and are looking forward to working collaboratively with them and their partners, SSE Renewables and Eni.
“We have been working with our existing energy clients in the North Sea for over 40 years, with an outstanding reputation for delivering and operating offshore emergency support vessels safely.
“We are now committed to building on the momentum of this contract award to further our diversification and firmly establish ourselves at the forefront of vessel design and delivery in the global renewables market.”
Steve Wilson at SSE Renewables said: “The jobs that these contracts bring to Scotland, the North East and the UK are a welcome boost and all part of the role Dogger Bank is playing in the UK’s green recovery. “
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