- 19 December 2025
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First rotation ends two-year wait for O&M team to begin work at offshore site
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Deployment of team aboard the Acta Centaurus is the first instance of an RWE O&M team using a Service Operations Vehicle (SOV) at a far offshore location
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New SOV, Acta Gemini, to join in 2026
The team that will be responsible for operating and maintaining Sofia throughout its 25-year lifespan has returned from its first rotation out at the offshore array.
With the construction phase on course to finish towards the end of 2026, preparations are well underway to transition to the operations and maintenance (O&M) phase.
Around thirty of RWEs O&M technicians and support personnel spent two weeks out at the Sofia site, 195km from the east coast of England. This first rotation is a major milestone for the O&M team, many of whom have been working towards this moment for the past two years.
The first rotation has been a successful exercise. The team has begun testing processes, equipment and reporting structures, and conducting safety drills.
Life on board the SOV is much more than the daily technical work on the turbines. RWE takes an inclusive, whole-team approach to working, with an emphasis placed on feedback and communication. A particularly successful part of the first rotation has been the daily ‘shop floor’ meeting; an end-of-shift brief in which staff members have openly fed back about which aspects of the work have worked well, which have not yet worked as planned, and any opportunities and ideas for improving methods.
At this early stage it’s crucial to test and develop working practices. Once the construction phase is over, the O&M phase will start with a two-year service and maintenance period. In this time, the team from SGRE – who manufactured the turbine components – will stay and work with RWE staff.
After those two years the SGRE team will move on and RWE will take on the full scope of the wind farm O&M phase. This is forecasted to be a 25-year long period of keeping Sofia’s 100 14MW turbines running at an optimal level, against a range of challenges such as parts failure and adverse weather, which change on a daily basis.
Looking ahead to 2026, the Acta Centaurus will be replaced by the Acta Gemini, which will become the primary O&M SOV for, Sofia which RWE will operate from its Grimsby Hub.
Guy Middleton, General Manager of the Grimsby Hub said: “we are delighted to have successfully completed the first offshore rotation for the O&M team. The team has been working tirelessly planning for this moment for a long time for which I am immensely grateful. The team has tested and improved our working practices, setting the right tone at the right time of driving standards of performance as we learn the practicalities of maintaining a wind farm so far offshore. We have quickly established good professional terms with the Acta team and I’m confident about the long-term relationship remaining very positive with them. Above all, in line with RWE’s safety principles, we prioritise the safety of the team and have established a very positive safety culture, already completing numerous trials and tests of our safety procedures. We look forward to welcoming the Gemini to the project, and will be in a superb position to take full ownership of the turbines when the time comes.”
