Northland Power has selected Subsea Europe Services as its partner for a pilot project at the Deutsche Bucht Offshore Wind Farm that will place autonomous marine survey and underwater inspection at the heart of its Operations & Maintenance (O&M) programs.The greenlight for the project which starts this July follows the successful harbour testing of Subsea Europe Services’ Autonomous Surveyor Uncrewed Surface Vessel (USV) and A.IKANBILIS Hovering Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (HAUV), which took place in May on the Albert Betz Service Operation Vessel (SOV) in Eemshaven, the Netherlands.
Northland Power will task Subsea Europe Services’ Autonomous Surveyor and A.IKANBILIS to deliver the complete offshore wind foundation survey and inspection scope. While the Autonomous Surveyor USV will conduct multibeam echosounder surveys to monitor the Inter-Array Cable routes and potential scouring at the foundations, the A.IKANBILIS HAUV will conduct general visual inspections of the foundations, from water level all the way down to the seabed. All survey and inspection work will be carried out with only minimal human involvement.
Both autonomous platforms will remain resident at the wind farm for the duration of the pilot project, using the SOV for the launch, recovery and storage. The SOV will become the mother ship and centre of operations for autonomous survey and underwater inspection operations within a highly automated project workflow: from planning and execution to reporting and data delivery.
Northland Power is 100% owner of Deutsche Bucht offshore wind farm, which is located 95 km west of Borkum in the German Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Deutsche Bucht has an operating capacity of 252 MW.
