Published
JOINT PRESS RELEASE – 15 February 2023

An international consortium has been awarded a prestigious Enterprise Singapore – Innovate UK grant to develop a next-generation autonomous structural integrity inspection capability.

Autonomous robotics specialist BeeX, offshore survey and inspection specialist Sulmara, and structural integrity specialists at the University of Strathclyde share a vision to deliver an autonomous low carbon solution for windfarm integrity monitoring. Ultimately the end goal is a Robotics-as-a-Service (RaaS) solution drastically reducing the resources required to conduct essential underwater inspections and asset integrity assessment of offshore wind turbines.

This solution would contribute to meeting Europe’s net-zero commitments by slashing energy requirements and emissions related to inspection activities in the wind sector. Large diesel fuelled and carbon intensive vessels are currently required to inspect energy assets, making the introduction of optimised, automated, lower carbon solutions a crucial part of any net-zero future.

Assisted by the grant funding, BeeX will be delivering their next-generation Hovering Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (HAUV) specifically for Offshore Wind; carrying specific survey & inspection payloads suitable for monopile and jacket inspections, piloted by artificial intelligence to automate inspection tasks & deliver repeatable efficient inspection of windfarm monopiles from seabed to the air water interface. This HAUV platform will be enhanced with new features including enhanced endurance and improved sensor payload from critical learnings discovered from BeeX experience with their flagship HAUV, A.IKANBILIS on the Nordsee One windfarm, offshore Germany last year.

Sulmara’s scope will define the vertical asset inspection capabilities and sensor payloads needed for this next generation HAUV to meet the demands of the offshore wind sector as well as managing field trials and demonstration of the system alongside BeeX in 2024, with the ultimate aim to integrate the HAUV into a bespoke Unmanned Surface Vessel. The inspection missions will be optimised based on research by the University of Strathclyde, in developing a Structural Integrity framework to generate risk-based, fit-for-purpose, inspection missions that will feed into the HAUV automated mission control software.

Offshore wind is a critical and rapidly expanding sector with UK government targets to deliver 5 GW of floating wind by 2030. Underwater inspections are essential in ensuring its safety. In many cases, these inspections are also mandatory by governments and financial backers. Operations and Maintenance Costs at offshore wind farms remain the biggest operational cost. The costs are largely driven largely by the use of large, specialised Dynamically Positioned (DP2) vessels to deploy work-class remotely operated vehicles (WROVs). With low carbon and reduced cost at the forefront of this project, it is clear that an HAUV hosted from an Uncrewed Surface Vehicle (USV), both optimised for the offshore wind sector can build on and improve the capabilities of the current Work Class ROVs hosted from larger crewed vessels.

𝘉𝘦𝘦𝘟 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘧 𝘦𝘹𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘳, 𝘎𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘊𝘩𝘪𝘢, 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥: “𝘉𝘺 2025, 𝘸𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘉𝘦𝘦𝘟’𝘴 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘢𝘳𝘮 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺’𝘴, 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘯𝘥-𝘰𝘧-𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘪𝘦𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘶𝘯𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘴’ 𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘨𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘭𝘭, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘴 𝘢𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘌𝘶𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦.”

𝘒𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘯 𝘔𝘤𝘉𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘯, 𝘊𝘌𝘖 𝘚𝘶𝘭𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘢 𝘢𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘥: “𝘉𝘦𝘦𝘟 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘏𝘈𝘜𝘝 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘣𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘚𝘶𝘭𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘢 𝘜𝘚𝘝 𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳, 𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘣𝘰𝘯 𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴. ”

𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘰𝘳 𝘍𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘭 𝘉𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘯𝘢𝘯, 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘋𝘦𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘕𝘢𝘷𝘢𝘭 𝘈𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘖𝘤𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘌𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘵 𝘚𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘤𝘭𝘺𝘥𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥: “𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘥𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘦𝘴. 𝘞𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘣𝘴𝘦𝘢 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯.”