Danish-based Semco Maritime has been awarded a 5-year service contract for the Deutsche Bucht offshore wind farm, owned by Northland Power. Alongside, Semco Maritime doubles staffing at offshore centre in Norddeich due to increasing activity.
A press release from the supplier of EPCI solutions and service to the offshore industry said that Northland Deutsche Bucht has awarded a 5-year service contract for the Deutsche Bucht offshore wind farm in the German part of the North Sea.
Deutsche Bucht is Northland Power’s third offshore wind farm. Semco Maritime is responsible for servicing the wind farm’s offshore substation (OSS). Nordsee One (the second offshore wind farm for Northland Power) and Semco Maritime have an existing service contract, to which Semco Maritime also constructed the OSS.
The service contract strengthens Semco Maritime’s presence on the German offshore wind market, and in Norddeich, Germany, where Semco established a smaller site office in 2016. Here, the permanent staff of offshore specialists will now increase to 8-10 employees and be supplemented with project recruitments as needed.
The increased staffing reflects growing interest from customers relying on Semco Maritime's significant experience in consulting, design, construction, refurbishment and OSS service.
"Semco Maritime built the world's first OSS in 1999, and we still employ some of the people who pioneered this area. This is a young industry where in-house knowledge and experience is important because you always build each OSS specifically for the intended assignment. Our experience and knowledge make it easier for us to deliver fast, accurate and cost effective service or modification, according to the customer’s needs," says Mads Seneca Iversholt, Senior Manager, O&M Wind at Semco Maritime.
To Northland Deutsche Bucht, flexibility and reliability are important for the decision to continue and expand cooperation with Semco Maritime: "We know Semco Maritime as a reliable and competent partner, delivering high quality on time. To us, flexible contracts combined with a proven ability to meet and transfer requirements into value-added solutions are important parameters when choosing our partners", says Jens Poulsen, Project Director of Northland Deutsche Bucht GmbH.
In addition to the service contracts, Semco Maritime assists a number of IPPs based in the Norddeich and Emden area with OSS-specific assignments, while the sister office in Grimsby, England, focuses primarily on servicing the British offshore wind industry.
The Deutsche Bucht offshore wind farm will be constructed about 95 kilometres to the northwest of the North Sea island of Borkum in Germany’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The power plant with 33 wind turbines of type V164-8.4 by MHI Vestas will provide a grid capacity of close to 269 megawatts.