Stillstrom, the maritime decarbonisation company established by Maersk, has been selected by the European Union’s Innovation Fund to build and install what it describes as the first commercial offshore charger for electric service operation vessels (eSOVs) working in wind farms.
The project is one of 77 initiatives chosen in the latest round of the fund, which supports low-carbon technologies across renewables, carbon capture and transport. Recipients will share around €3.4 billion, financed through the reinvestment of EU Emissions Trading System revenue. The press release does not name the wind farm where the charger will be installed.
The Offshore eCharger is an 8 MW system built from components supplied by established manufacturers and designed for independently qualified operation. Stillstrom says it is designed to save more than 5.5 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent annually while reducing fuel costs for operators. Service operation vessels currently run on marine gas oil; charging directly from the wind farm would replace that fuel with electricity.
The company cites a joint study with ScottishPower Renewables, published through Operation Zero, which found that SOV operations account for 15–20% of the greenhouse gas emissions across the lifecycle of an offshore wind farm.
“This is about taking offshore power and charging out of the test phase and into commercial operation at a working wind farm,” said Kristian Borum Jørgensen, CEO of Stillstrom. He added that the award signals to vessel operators and developers that offshore charging is moving towards a technically and commercially viable solution.
Stillstrom began as a Maersk innovation project in 2019 and became an independent company in 2022. It employs more than 30 people in Copenhagen and Aberdeen and focuses on the UK and European offshore wind markets, including Denmark, where the company is headquartered.
