Sea Puffin 1 has completed transit and push-on trials at the Horns Rev 1 offshore wind farm in Denmark at a significant wave height of 1.5m, demonstrating record low fuel consumption of <100l/h.
WindPartner AS, the vessel owner and manager, said it is currently testing Sea Puffin 1 at Ørsted’s Horns Rev 2 offshore wind farm and intends to continue testing it in severe weather conditions and at wave heights of 1.8m.
The test at Horns Rev 2 is scheduled to be completed by 16 September, when the 15-meter long daughter craft will be ready to take on contracts and commercial operations.
“We are very proud and satisfied to see that the vessel has performed according to our expectations, and especially the clear demonstration of a significant reduction in fuel oil consumption compared to standard CTVs,” said Trygve H. Espeland , Naval Architect and Co-Founder of ESNA, the designer of the vessel.
The world’s first daughter craft based on surface-effect-ship (SES) technology commenced two months of sea trials on the two wind farms at the beginning of August.
The sea trials, funded through the Carbon Trust’s Offshore Wind Accelerator (OWA) program, are expected to demonstrate that the Sea Puffin 1 can work in an operational wind farm environment in preparation for charter and full commercial operation.
WindPartner and ESNA have a long-term cooperation agreement with the ambition to build a series of this vessel type over the next few years.