ASV Global to lead offshore windfarm project

ASV Global will lead the Windfarm Autonomous Ship Project that aims to develop a timeline for the phased introduction of autonomous surface vessels (ASVs) to support offshore wind farm operations and maintenance.

The 18-month joint industry project intends to explore the technical, regulatory and societal issues of using ASVs integrated with existing manned shipping operations, to support offshore wind farm operations.

The project will see ASV Global work in partnership with the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult, SeaRoc Group, Houlder and the University of Portsmouth to verify the benefits and build the case for the use of ASVs.

As part of the project, ASV Global will be further advancing its autonomous control system to handle the challenges presented by the operation of AUVs in the constrained environment of a windfarm. ORE Catapult will work on the use cases and validation of the cost savings created by the project.

SeaRoc Group will be extending its SeaPlanner software to assist with the monitoring and operation of autonomous vehicles and the introduction of advanced cargo planning systems. The University of Portsmouth will assist with efficient route planning, logistics management and system analytics. Houlder will develop the vessel design and an innovative handling system to enable autonomous cargo transfer.

The team will work with Ørsted, who will provide use cases from its Hornsea One offshore wind farm, located 120km off the Yorkshire coast. Manned operations will be used as the baseline to compare the time, cost and performance of unmanned ships in different roles, including asset surveillance, security patrols, component spares supply and crew transfer operations.

New products will come from adaptation of marine co-ordinator systems to operate with both manned and unmanned vessels, optimised navigation systems from autonomous vessels and robotic systems to support offshore operations.