Operations & maintenance
In April 2023, an eROV platform developed by geo-data specialist Fugro conducted the first fully remote inspection of an offshore wind farm.
Reducing risk from the safety of land For offshore wind turbines, all aspects of their life cycle – from construction through operation, maintenance and decommissioning – require workers to travel out to these remote sites for inspection or servicing. Transporting heavy and bulky objects; installing components; the volatile weather conditions and their impact on timeframe availability; operations conducted at dangerous heights; the flooding of components and areas; and changes to platform stability all present unique risks and challenges to workers. Indeed, that’s before you even begin factoring in human error, as workers may have to deal with poor planning; being assigned the wrong tools; tiredness and fatigue; improper or delayed maintenance; and any number of other issues. Of course, these issues are frequently only identified when a worker is already on-site and will then require either the maintenance vessel returning to harbour or another vessel being sent out to the site – both solutions wasting considerable time in the process.
“When it comes to so-called ‘dull, dirty and dangerous tasks’, removing humans from these high-risk environments when possible will benefit not just their bottom line but also the health and safety of their personnel.”
While not a solution to all of these challenges, the offshore wind industry has seen significant developments in recent years in the field of robotics and automation, as companies look to reduce the demands and strain placed on their human workers. It’s long been clear to industry that, when it comes to so-called ‘dull, dirty and dangerous tasks’, removing humans from these high-risk environments when possible will benefit not just their bottom line but also the health and safety of their personnel.
32
In July 2021, the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult – the UK’s leading technology and innovation research centre for offshore renewable energy – released a paper looking into the myriad benefits that robotics could offer the sector. Titled ‘Quantifying the impact of robotics in offshore wind’, the report is one of several ‘Industry Insight’ studies, commissioned as part of the Offshore Wind Innovation Hub (OWIH). The authors analysed various cost-reduction opportunities that robotic applications could provide in the operations and maintenance (O&M) of offshore wind farms. Among the many aspects of robotics examined in the paper, the authors noted that recent developments in offshore wind turbine inspection have seen the introduction of hybrid unmanned surface vessels (USVs) combined with electric remotely operated vehicles (eROVs). The use of these systems in offshore wind was a natural progression from the oil and gas industry, where they have been common practice for subsea operations since the 1980s – though, obviously, their electrification is a more recent addition. Today, eROVs used in the offshore wind sector have seen a small level of automation integrated into their operations, but to date are typically tethered systems that are remotely controlled by personnel in support vessels on the surface. Whether automated or remotely controlled, of course, eROVS offer great potential to reduce risk and improve health and safety in this area, capable of performing maintenance and repair tasks on offshore wind turbines without a single human being physically present.
As the ORE Catapult paper notes, eROVs do not require hydraulic systems and are easier to deploy from surface vessels, allowing vessels to be unmanned. Since space for personnel is not required, they can be designed more efficiently so they are therefore smaller and considerably more fuel efficient, helping reduce carbon emissions. Similarly, combined USV-eROV platforms offer further value as they can be controlled from onshore
World Wind Technology /
www.worldwind-technology.com
Fugro
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41
