Highlights of the agreement:

• The framework deal will support RWE’s fleet of offshore wind farms 
• The long-term partnership includes vessel, lifting and auxiliary services
• The four-year deal will standardise RWE’s approach towards main component exchanges

ZITON A/S and RWE Offshore Wind have entered into a four-year strategic operations and maintenance jack up vessel framework agreement. Under this agreement ZITON will provide RWE’s Offshore Wind business with vessel, lifting and auxiliary services for a minimum of 180 days of support every year.

The long term partnership will cover all UK and European operational offshore wind assets of RWE accessible by ZITON ‘s fleet of jack up vessels.

It will enable a standardised and lean approach to major component exchanges across the RWE portfolio and reduces price uncertainty in a tighter market environment. Securing jack up vessels and continuing to build on the long-term relationship between the RWE and ZITON teams will help increase efficiency and reinforce a high level of safety performance.

Thomas Michel, Director Operations at RWE Offshore Wind, said: “RWE has worked with ZITON very successfully on many occasions over recent years. With our in-house capabilities and the new partnership, we will be able to improve our approach towards major component exchanges further and bring performance to the next level.”

The decision to partner with ZITON was based on their track record, vessel portfolio, service quality and experience in assisting RWE with component exchanges previously.

Thorsten Jalk, CEO of ZITON A/S, commented on the agreement: ”ZITON is pleased to announce the commencement of a strategic partnership with RWE for the provision of MCE services employing our fleet of operations and maintenance jack ups and special project teams. The agreement is testimony to the services of our company and comes on the back of years of successful cooperation between the companies. It marks a fundamental commitment from both parties which secures the continued successful operation of RWE’s offshore wind assets for the next four years.”

RWE is one of the world’s leading offshore wind players, active across the entire value chain, from project conception and development to construction as well as operation and maintenance. The unparalleled expertise the company has earned over the last 20 years has resulted in 18 wind farms in operation in five countries. At the 342 MW Kaskasi project, off the German island Heligoland, where RWE is piloting the world’s first recyclable rotor blades produced by Siemens Gamesa, the turbines are already feeding electricity into the grid since the end of last year, and the 1.4 GW Sofia project in the UK, one of the largest offshore wind farms in the world, is currently under construction.