The keel has been laid for the United States' first plug-in hybrid service operation vessel (SOV) at Edison Chouest Offshore's (ECO) LaShip Shipyard in Houma, La.
Louisiana-based ECO has a 10-year charter agreement to operate the SOV for Empire Offshore Wind, a joint venture between Equinor and BP, starting form the mid-2020s.
The 262-foot-long vessel will accommodate up to 60 wind turbine technicians for operations and maintenance work at the Empire Wind 1 and Empire Wind 2 offshore wind farms off the coast of Long Island, N.Y.
Homeported at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal (SBMT) in New York, the plug-in hybrid SOV will be certified to EPA Tier 4 emissions standards and capable of sailing partly on battery power. The Jones Act compliant vessel will be U.S.-flagged and classed by the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS).
Empire Wind is located 15-30 miles southeast of Long Island and spans 80,000 acres, with water depths of between approximately 75 and 135 feet. The project's two phases, Empire Wind 1 and 2, have a total installed capacity of more than 2 gigawatts (GW).
ECO is currently building another SOV, ECO Edison, which it will deliver in 2024 and operate for Ørsted and Eversource's joint venture offshore wind portfolio, including South Fork Wind, Revolution Wind and Sunrise Wind in the U.S. Northeast.