4C Offshore Empowering Intelligence

Navantia, EOLOS, Alerion and ICS test Unmanned Vehicle for offshore wind inspection

4C Offshore | Tom Russell
By: Tom Russell 24/01/2022 Navantia
Navantia, EOLOS Floating Lidar Solutions, and Alerion together with the University of Seville have carried out the first pilot and demonstration tests in the Port of Ceuta to develop technology and services based on Unmanned Service Vehicles (USVs) for the inspection and diagnosis of offshore wind farms.

The USV, named Vendaval, has been operating at the Port of Ceuta since 2019. It combines Navantia's technologies with Eolos' advanced meteoceanic data acquisition systems, autonomous drone technology developed by the University of Seville, and industrial proprietary drones already operating in the inspection of Alerion's wind turbines.

These tests have aim to demonstrate the feasibility of the USV operation in a real environment of the use of unmanned ships working jointly and collaboratively with LiDAR and meteoceanic sensors as well as with autonomous drones.
 

“With these first tests Navantia demonstrates its firm and real commitment to the application and development of state-of-the-art naval technologies such as unmanned vehicles to the service and maintenance sector for offshore wind farms, where Navantia also wants to be present. Although the dimensions of the vessel and the capacities of the equipment on board must be adapted to the needs of each project, the tests carried out using the existing USV platform allow us to validate the technological development, and open the door to its immediate use”,
he explains. Abel Méndez Díaz, commercial director of Navantia Energías Verdes.

Jordi Puigcorbé, Director of Innovation at Eolos, said: “the results of these tests demonstrate the enormous potential that unmanned vehicles have when they work collaboratively to make the operation and maintenance tasks of offshore wind farms safer and more efficient.”

"The drone technology of the University of Seville and the one already operational at a commercial level from Alerion fit perfectly into the new platform for unmanned vehicles proposed by Navantia and Eolos".


Premium

ForeSEE Premium, our most popular subscription, gives you full access to use the ForeSEE WebApp which includes exclusive offshore wind, transmission and vessel reports, news and downloads.

Request a 30 minute Demo

Trending News!