Delta Marine (DM), a Shetland based company who specialise in chartering vessels to the dredging and marine civil engineering industries, is buying a new workboat, the Voe Viking. 

The new vessel will be used in the offshore renewable energy sector, specifically offshore wind as DM see the offshore wind-farm market as an opportunity to get maximum use from the Voe Viking, having received several enquires to service this market recently. 

Established 20 years ago by Robert Spanswick, DM currently has a staff of 17.  The Voe Viking is expected to be ready by April 2005, creating a minimum of six new high quality jobs.  With potentially nine posts required to cover the leave cycle on a 24 hour day contract when the vessel is in full-time service.

To allow the boat to work effectively in the offshore wind industry several alterations need to be made to it with alterations costing £137,327.  Shetland Enterprise is investing £18,539 towards the additions, which include two Spud poles to anchor the boat whilst servicing the turbines, an extra crane allowing the Voe Viking to handle the larger loads associated with the sector and enlarging accommodation to enable the transfer of engineers to service the turbines.

Shetland Enterprise development manager, David Watson, said: "DM is the only firm in Shetland offering specialised vessels to the offshore renewable energy industry.  We believe this investment is important as it will help to meet the UK Governments target that by 2015, 15% of electricity produced in the UK will be from renewable resources, with offshore wind energy expected to be a major contributor towards this target." 

Wind energy is recognised worldwide as a proven technology to meet increasing electricity demands in a sustainable and clean way and of all the renewable technologies, offshore wind has the potential to deliver the highest quantities of energy.
 
One of the attractions of offshore wind power is that wind speeds are generally higher offshore than on land.  Higher wind speeds at sea mean an increased energy production with each turbine typically generating enough electricity each year to meet the needs of 1500 households while displacing in the region of 35,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide as it does so.

Offshore wind energy has the added attraction that it has minimal environmental effects.

Robert Spanswick, owner of Delta Marine, said: "We have previously undertaken work on offshore wind-farms in Denmark and off the English coast but found our current fleet not ideally suited to the work.  The Voe Viking will give us greater flexibility and allow us to take on other aspects of the construction and maintenance of offshore projects.  We expect 50 per cent of the Voe Viking's work will be in the renewable energy sector."

DM's main area of operation is in and around the UK coast, they are currently assisting with the installation of the Pelamis wave device to the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney.  DM have also completed contracts in Denmark, Sweden, Estonia, Germany, The Netherlands, Ireland, and currently have a boat working in the Caspian Sea based in Azerbaijan.