North Star Renewables secures $131M loan to build offshore wind farm support vessels

North Star Renewables has secured a $131 million loan to build a new fleet of offshore wind farm support vessels in the UK.

The company will build three new Service Operations Vessels (SOVs) to be delivered to the Dogger Bank offshore wind farm on long-term contracts. Allianz Global Investors backed the loan, valued at £96 million.

“This investment from AllianzGI is a first for our industry and attracting project finance from such a well-respected, global investor demonstrates the confidence in our capabilities to deliver and operate our new SOVs which have been a transformational step for the company in terms of our energy transition,” North Star CEO Matthew Gordon said in a statement. “We are highly motivated and driven by our ability to innovate through our technology partners, and our ambition to deliver best-in-class vessel solutions for the offshore wind market in the UK and abroad.”

North Star’s vessels provide accommodations to offshore wind turbine technicians and act as a warehouse for supplies.

The first vessel of the new fleet is expected to be delivered in Summer 2023.

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The Biden administration wants to deploy 30 gigawatts of offshore wind in the U.S. by 2030. The goal will require a workforce of 44,000, according to the White House.

Global demand for offshore wind workers is expected to triple by the end of the decade, according to analysis by Rystad Energy. The industry will employ an estimated 868,000 full-time workers worldwide by 2030.

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Source: Renewable Energy