The Engineer

Seajacks vessel to install North Sea wind farms

News

Seajacks International has entered into a contract with Lamprell Energy to construct Seajacks Zaratan, a self-propelled jackup vessel designed to install wind farms in the harsh operating environment of the North Sea.

The new vessel will be capable of installing wind turbines and foundations in water depths up to 55m.

The contract also provides Seajacks with an option to build one additional vessel at Lamprell, which it hopes to exercise in the foreseeable future. Delivery of the Zaratan vessel is scheduled for May 2012.

Seajacks currently owns and operates two self-propelled jackup vessels out of Great Yarmouth in the UK — the Seajacks Kraken and Seajacks Leviathan. Both vessels are purpose built for installing offshore wind turbines, as well as being able to perform a number of niche operations for the North Sea oil and gas industry.

Seajacks is owned by Riverstone Holdings’s most recent renewable energy fund, which acquired it in January 2010.

Riverstone is an energy- and power-focused private investment firm founded in 2000 with approximately $17bn (£11.3bn) under management across six investment funds. Riverstone expects to devote additional capital from its renewable fund to expand Seajacks’s current fleet.