Offshore Renewables Vessel Construction Guideline Released

The UK’s Crown Estate and the Energy Institute (EI) have collaborated on the development of the publication ‘Construction vessel guideline for the offshore renewables industry’ to support the safe and successful delivery of offshore renewable energy projects in the UK, The Crown Estate says in a release.

Working closely with the industry, this new document has been produced to assist developers and the supply chain in the planning and construction of offshore renewable energy projects, with particular focus on offshore wind farms in the UK. The publication aims to pro-actively assist developers in reducing construction risk and contribute to providing a solid foundation for safe and efficient offshore operations.

Huub den Rooijen,  The Crown Estate’s Head of Offshore Wind, said: ”This guideline for offshore renewable construction vessels is a great example of how the sector can work together, where appropriate, to help bring down costs through ensuring that health and safety strategies are fully integrated into the lifecycle of projects from the outset and delivering technically and commercially successful projects.”

The aims of the guideline are to:

• Offer information and insight on key health and safety and related elements in the selection of vessels and project equipment for offshore operations, to mitigate risks, provide a solid foundation for the decision making of developers and also assist the expectations of the supply chain;
• Enable developers to have an appropriate dialogue with contractors and sub-contractors;
• Provide developers with key information to enable them to instruct third parties to ensure an appropriate vessel selection;
• Provide developers with information to inform the audit of all vessels and equipment prior to contracting together with the vital assessment of the supplier’s capability, training record and experience of key personnel;
• Provide a comprehensive reference to the applicable regulations and other applicable guidance in the UK.