Reducing the Cost of Developing and Operating Offshore Wind Farms with Autonomous Surface Vessels James Cowles, ASV Ltd Terry Sloane, Planet Ocean
Reducing the Cost of Developing and Operating Offshore Wind Farms with Autonomous Surface Vessels James Cowles Science and Survey Product Manager, ASV Terry Sloane Managing Director, Planet Ocean
Introduction Contents PART1: Project opportunity introduction Terry Sloane, Planet Ocean PART 2: GROW offshore project James Cowles, ASV GROW:OffshoreWind provides funding for suppliers to the offshore wind market working in collaboration with industry and government. Also supported by major turbine manufacturers including Alstom, Areva, Gamesa, Mitsubishi, Senvion and Siemens Other partners include the Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN), Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult
The Project To provide a technology demonstrator for the offshore renewables sector, showing the capabilities of autonomous data acquisition and dissemination to fill a perceived capability gap. ASV providing the Autonomous Vehicle capability with Planet Ocean providing the sensor expertise.
The Motivation To provide remote, low cost, safe data for preventative maintenance and operational safety without the need for local human intervention thus reducing risk, cost and increasing the frequency at which the data is made available.
The Problem Ship time is expensive and used sparingly and only for essential tasks such as crew transfer and turbine maintenance. If time allows, other lower priority tasks are undertaken.
The Problem What to Measure Scour Seabed Cable Position Turbine Wear PAM Local MetOcean conditions
The Vehicles
The Sensors Scour NORTEK SCOUR NORTEK MONITOR SCOUR MONITOR Seabed Cable Position R2SONIC 2022 Turbine Wear & PAM Local MetOcean conditions OCEAN SONICS SMART HYDROPHONE AXYS TRIAXYS WAVE HEIGHT & DIRECTION SENSOR NORTEK SIGNATURE NORTEK SIGNATURE 500 ADCP 500 ADCP AIRMAR MULTI-PARAMETER AIRMAR MULTI-PARAMETER WEATHER STATION WEATHER STATION
Nortek Scour Monitor With Planet Ocean Remote Access Telemetry The System is affixed to a selected turbine tower and continuously monitors the seabed profile using acoustic techniques. This allows the effects of scour to be characterised over time. Data are recorded on board the sensor and recoverd via short range data telemetry when the ASV is within range and either stored on board the ASV for subsequent visualisation or telemetered in real time. The ASV can visit a large number of selected turbines at one or more sites during its mission.
Ocean Sonics Smart Hydrophone The Ocean Sonics ic-listen-hf Smart Hydrophone will be used to investigate the acoustic environment in a turbine field. As well as detecting the presence of marine mammals, the system can also monitor the presence or otherwise of any anthropogenic source in the range 10Hz to 200 KHz. The project will investigate the use of acoustic technology to detect early signs of bearing wear or other stresses on turbines. The omni directional system can be autonomously deployed at strategic locations within a field before moving to the next location.
AXYS TRIAXYS Wave Height & Direction Sensor Used in the companies wave height and direction buoys the TRIAXYS NEXTWAVE-II Sensor provides real-time wave height and direction data directly from the ASV. Wave height and direction data are telemetered in real time allowing users to assess sea state at a remote location prior to mobilising service support, thus saving wasted services visits..
Nortek Signature 500 ADCP The project will take the opportunity to deploy a NORTEK Signature 500 Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) on the ASV. The project is concerned primarily with shallow water operations, and the Signature 500 is an appropriate short range device.
Airmar Multi-parameter Weather Station The AIRMAR Met Head is a multi-parameter sensor providing data on wind speed and direction, wind gust. air temperature, air pressure and humidity. Used in the conjunction with the TRIAXYS wave sensor, a comprehensive picture of local met-ocean conditions can be provided in real time direct from the ASV.
R2Sonic 2022 Multi Beam Echo sounder SONIC 2022 SONAR head The Sonic Broadband / Wideband Multibeam Echo Sounders are the world s first true wideband high resolution shallow water multibeam echo sounders. With proven results and unmatched performance, R2Sonic systems produce reliable and remarkably clean data with maximum user flexibility. Provided and supported by Swathe Services Integrated Sonar Interface Module (OEM Applanix Wavemaster II)
Introduction Contents PART1: Project opportunity introduction Terry Sloane, Planet Ocean PART 2: GROW offshore project James Cowles, ASV Stakeholder Engagement Sensor integration Sensor results Summary
Stakeholder engagement outcomes Initial focussed event including, surveyors, windfarm operators and industry professionals Follow ups with 2 major developers Key sensor requirement MBES Advantages Reduced mobilisation costs Shallow work Weather tolerance for HSE Night time operations Perceived risks Tampering Power cycling Navigation Challenges Launch and recovery Navigation and collision perceptions Communications Winches Success criteria Availability of spares Interchangeable sensors Demonstration of reliability RTK position QC data during deployment
Sensor integration Airmar Met sensor Triaxys wave sensor ADCP, PAM hydrophone
MBES survey results Comments from lead project Surveyor: Easy to mobilise, install and measure offsets Repeatable mounting (no secondary cal required) Clean power supply no noise so clean data and reduced processing time Straight lines no reruns so more efficient survey Real time monitoring of data so excellent quality control capability
MBES in Action
Arbroath - Deployment Deployment in Arbroath Scotland 36Hr deployment, C-Enduro Up to sea state 3-4 Wind speed upto 15 m/s By Inchcape wind farm currently in development Camera data Marine mammal spotting Sea bird spotting Application proven in scientific studies Sensors deployed Wind speed and direction Air temperature, pressure and humidity Wave height and direction data in processing Passive Acoustic Monitoring data in processing Acoustic current profiling data in processing Cameras C-Enduro Aft C-Enduro Forward
Metrological data Wind speed, Wind direction, Pressure, Humidity Proof of concept to show C-Endure as data collection platform Ideally suited due to mast height for comparable data collection to existing buoy infrastructure Near real-time data solution, better granularity than buoys as more power available. Wind data from 18hrs of mission, Data transmitted back from vessel over iridium communications
Current profiling Working with Marine Science Scotland Data collected from a representative point from a previous manned deployment Demonstrated simple sensor integration via Ethernet and power Amplitude of return showing surface turbulence and sea bed Velocity profiles, completely raw
Summary Highlights Demonstrated high quality data collection from unmanned systems Multiple sets of case study data collected Proven quick and simple sensor integration on both C-Worker and C-Enduro Proposed Future Work Common data set survey work Plymouth with C-Worker Operational Wind farm data collection with C-Enduro and C-Worker ADCP data processing PAM data processing Scour data processing
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