Into the wind: evolving CSOV design

Image: Kongsberg Maritime updates the Skywalker class design of CSOVs (image: Kongsberg Maritime).

Integrated Wind Solutions (IWS) has contracted Kongsberg Maritime, through its subsidiary IWS Fleet, to provide vessel design and technology solutions for four Commissioning Service Operation Vessels (CSOVs).

China’s Nantong Rainbow Offshore & Engineering Equipment shipyard will build this second-generation ship design with delivery due in 2029 and 2030.

The new vessels are an evolution of the design and building of six first-generation units, that were delivered from 2023 to 2025.

All of these ships are diesel/electric powered with the support of batteries and are designed to offer operational flexibility along with the possibility of converting the ships to extended battery operation at a later stage, says Martijn Peter De Jongh, chief designer, offshore and wind at Kongsberg Maritime.

De Jongh says that these vessels will effectively serve as a hotel and logistics tool for the maintenance of windfarms and other offshore structures. The vessels will deliver technicians to a wind turbine and then rapidly move on to the next unit. As such, they are constantly on the move and will require enough power to safely allow staff to walk-to-work on a safe and stable platform.

The ships can remain at sea for 30 days, and Per Ståle Nykrem, sales director for ship design at Kongsberg Maritime, believes that