North Star's newest CSOV secures first contract

UK operator North Star has secured its first contract for a new commissioning service operation vessel (CSOV), a second award with German energy company EnBW.

This award for the CSOV Grampian Kestrel will precede the decade-long minimum charter contract the firm signed in February to provide an SOV for EnBW's He Dreiht wind farm in the German sector of the North Sea.

With a total installed output of 960 MW, the development is currently one of Europe’s largest energy transition projects and will be able to supply 1.1 million households with renewable energy. From the end of next year, 64 wind turbines with an installed output of 15 MW each around 90 kilometres northwest of the island of Borkum and 110 kilometres west of Heligoland will be connected to the grid.

Grampian Kestrel is the first of two CSOVs under construction for North Star. The design has been developed by Norwegian shipbuilder Vard especially for North Star, with new methanol ready hybrid-propulsion solutions and an increased number of single cabins providing hotel quality accommodation for the technicians working in field.

The vessel is scheduled to be delivered in June 2026 while sister vessel Grampian Eagle will handed over the following August.