Secured entry into key offshore wind project

Text: Sveinung W. Jensen, Tellus Kommunikasjon

The tug Farmar Athos and the barge Ponton 6 were engaged as standby vessels during installation work at the Baltic Power wind farm in the Baltic Sea.

The assignment began in Rostock, where the vessels were prepared for the possible transport of so-called “plugs” to the crane vessel Svanen, which is installing monopiles at the wind farm.

ALTHOUGH the standby solution was never activated operationally, the assignment represented an important breakthrough.

“We were brought in as a backup solution and were not activated, but the value lay in the process. We completed a full certification process to operate within the construction area, both with the barge and the tug,” says Chief Executive Officer John W. Nilsen.

THE CERTIFICATION means that Farmar is now pre-approved for several types of assignments at the Baltic Power site and similar projects in the region.

“This means we can be called in at short notice. In a market with high requirements for documentation, safety and experience, this is an important competitive advantage,” Nilsen says.

BALTIC POWER is one of the largest and most ambitious offshore wind projects in the Baltic Sea and is regarded as a key project in Poland’s energy transition.

The wind farm is being built around 23 kilometres north of the Polish coast, off the towns of Leba and Choczewo. Once completed, it will have an installed capacity of approximately 1.2 gigawatts, enough to supply renewable electricity to more than 1.5 million Polish households.