Offshore staff
LEIDSCHENDAM, the Netherlands – Fugro claims to have performed the first fully remote inspection of offshore wind farm facilities using one of its Blue Essence uncrewed surface vessels (USVs) and the Blue Volta electric ROV (eROV).
The inspection took place at the Aberdeen offshore wind farm in the central UK North Sea (also known as the European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre), with funding from Vattenfall and the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult.
According to Fugro, Blue Essence is the first USV to receive approval from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) to operate fully remotely with an eROV and conduct surveys in UK waters.
The eROV, launched and recovered remotely from Fugro’s remote operations center in Aberdeen, undertook inspections of wind turbine structures to assess their stability and safety.
Through using data from a deepwater multibeam echosounder sensor on the hull of the vessel, the team was able to generate a detailed map of the seabed area. Vattenfall accessed the acquired geo-data to inform its decisions on asset maintenance.
Blue Essence USVs are designed to undertake inspections at sea for up to two weeks without the need for refueling.
04.26.2023
