Computer rendering of the offshore wind turbine installation ship (showing three wind turbines on deck).

RWE ordered a special purpose offshore installation ship to be built by Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering last December, and now work on the new ship has officially begun. The steel cutting ceremony has been held at the shipyard in South Korea in the presence company officials.

The new ship is going to be 100 meters long, and 40 meters wide. The first steel sections have been cut to size, and are ready to be installed. Once completed, the ship will be the first of its kind, capable of transporting and then installing up to four offshore multi-MW class wind turbines at a time. Intended primarily for the Nordsee Ost wind farm project, the ship will later be deployed for other offshore wind energy projects.

The shipbuilding contract is actually for two identical ships, both worth about EUR 100 million. The first ship is to be completed in autumn 2011, and will begin its operations from RWE's base port of Bremerhaven, from where the ship will begin hauling 6 MW wind turbines, and installing them in the German Bight.

[source: RWE Innogy]