Vattenfall achieves safer and climate smarter seabed inspection with XOCEAN’s USVs
🎯 Vattenfall, the Swedish power company, has conducted the first large-scale seabed survey with USVs provided by XOCEAN. The surveys were conducted at several of Vattenfall’s offshore wind farms in Denmark, Sweden and the UK. The results were very positive, both from a climate and a safety aspect. This opens up for a broader use of this new technology.
As a part of operating an offshore wind farm it is necessary to periodically survey the seabed around turbine foundations and substation jacket legs to monitor changes in cable burial depth and scour development. This knowledge is also important for repair and maintenance activities involving jack-up vessels, where legs require a stable seabed to ensure safe elevation out of the water. Traditionally, seabed surveys are carried out using crewed vessels, which emit substantial amounts of carbon from the consumption of fuel.
🎤 “When we issued the tender to select a contractor for seabed surveys across our Danish wind farms, we received an interesting proposal using uncrewed vessels. Having observed their deployment in small-scale trials elsewhere, we were curious to understand how successful their deployment would be on a larger scale. This technology consumes much less fuel than a traditional survey vessel, and because the vessel is controlled from an onshore operations centre instead of having a crew onboard, personnel aren’t exposed to the same challenges as working offshore, thereby improving safety and wellbeing,” says Rasmus Juncher, Senior Lead Geophysicist at Vattenfall.
Vattenfall aims to expand the use of uncrewed vessel in future operations:
🎤 “The journey of autonomous vehicles in general have just begun and I believe that the possibilities are endless. I am proud that Vattenfall is part of the journey. This is only the very beginning,” says Rasmus Juncher.
🎤 “Our uncrewed survey vessel platform offers a safe, reliable and low carbon solution for the collection of ocean data. We are delighted to be supporting Vattenfall through the provision of sustainable data to support their survey requirements across the development and operation of their offshore windfarms,” says James Ives, CEO, XOCEAN.
⚙️USV XO-450 specifications:
🔹 Hull type – catamaran
🔹 LOA – 4.5 m
🔹 Width – 2.2 m
🔹 Height – 2.2 m
🔹 Weight – 750 kg
🔹 Payload weight – 100 kg
🔹 Power system – hybrid: solar\batteries\diesel generator
🔹 Propulsion – 2 x DC drives
🔹 Speed – 4 kt
🔹 Endurance – 18 d
🔹 Range – 1512 nm
🔹 Connectivity – satellite
📃 Source: Vattenfall
📷 Photo: Vattenfall