Norwegian companies Akastor and IKM, best known for their services in the offshore oil and gas space, are teaming up to create an operations and maintenance services firm for the offshore wind industry called Føn Energy Services.
According to the two companies, Føn Energy Services will provide a fully integrated service offering for inspection and maintenance services for Balance of Plant-equipment (BOP), including foundations, inter-array cables, and substations. The offering includes periodic and event-based inspection, preventive and corrective maintenance, and major repairs.
The company will also provide asset and O&M management services, including O&M optimization and planning, and asset integrity management.
Rahman Khanani will head up the new venture. He joins Føn Energy Services from a position as chief strategy & innovation officer at Element Logic, which delivers warehouse automation solutions.
“The O&M segment within offshore wind accounts for a significant part of the cost throughout the project lifecycle. We are seeking to industrialize and digitize this segment enabling us to create a market-leading and streamlined O&M offering. We are delighted to join forces with IKM to realize these plans,” says Karl Erik Kjelstad, CEO of industrial investment company Akastor ASA, which has the Aker group as its largest shareholder.
Akastor will inject capital in the business, while IKM Group will move the operations of crane and lifting specialist IKM K&L and engineering company IKM Tech Team Solutions into the new company. IKM K&L has already delivered maintenance services to more than 450 wind turbines in Norway. Worth noting, Norway doesn't have any offshore wind farms installed yet, but there are plans to do so.
Føn Energy Services from start have a team of approximately 80 employees, including specialist engineers and offshore technicians.
IKM Group and Akastor (through a wholly owned subsidiary) will each own 44 percent of Føn Energy Services. The remaining 12 percent will be owned by the management of the company.