The National Offshore Wind Research and Development Consortium (NOWRDC) has chosen Saildrone to receive a significant award to help with offshore wind’s coexistence with other ocean users and wildlife.
Saildrone and RPS, a top provider of professional services to the offshore wind industry, will use advanced uncrewed observing, artificial intelligence, and machine learning (ML) technologies to build a line-of-sight monitoring network to find, classify, and locate marine mammals near offshore wind developments.
In order to transition away from conventional, non-renewable sources, particularly fossil fuels, offshore wind must be developed globally. Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are produced during the exploration, production, and use of fossil fuels, a limited resource that accelerates climate change. Increasing the production of renewable fuels like offshore wind can help reduce the amount of energy that needs to be brought in from other places.
Even though offshore wind is much better for the environment, large offshore wind turbines may hurt marine mammals because they make a lot of noise. This is because marine mammals use sound to communicate, find their way around, and find food.
It has historically been very challenging to monitor marine mammals that could be affected by offshore wind development and operations. Saildrones USVs will offer an alternative to traditional visual surveys from ships and planes that is better, cheaper, and better for the environment.
According to Richard Jenkins, founder and CEO of Saildrone, “Saildrone is very excited to be working with NOWRDC to help accelerate offshore wind energy development.” ” In order to support the rapidly expanding offshore wind industry, we have worked arduously in recent years to integrate new payloads, such as seafloor mapping sonars, sub-bottom profilers, and passive acoustics. If we can use technology to support offshore wind development while also protecting marine mammals, the industry will grow much faster.
According to Stephanie Milne, RPS Team Leader, US Offshore Renewables, “RPS is looking forward to using our expertise in support of this opportunity to advance cutting edge marine mammal monitoring technology with Saildrone and NOWRDC.” “We are thrilled to be contributing to this significant next step,” the company stated. “We have helped develop a number of monitoring technologies that are now widely used in the offshore energy industry.”
The grant is one of five new projects that will get a combined $3.5 million from NOWRDC to help offshore wind coexist with other ocean users and wildlife while also advancing other industry initiatives.
According to Kevin Knobloch, executive director of NOWRDC, “NOWRDC is excited to award projects that directly respond to challenges in the offshore wind industry.” These projects have the potential to offer real solutions to near-term industry challenges, ranging from stakeholder coordination to transmission resiliency, as we move closer to the deployment of commercial-scale offshore wind in the US. Thus, the projects present a chance to advance the field of offshore wind development.
Saildrone is advancing technology in the offshore wind industry beyond just monitoring marine mammals. The business offers the vital ocean information required to support an offshore wind farm’s entire life cycle, from site evaluation and development to construction and operation. Saildrone USVs collect extensive real-time ocean data, ranging from wind monitoring to high-resolution ocean mapping, persistent year-round ecosystem monitoring, and maritime security solutions. They are powered by clean energy sources like wind and sun, and they use very little or no carbon to run.
Each Saildrone USV is designed for a specific main mission, but they can all do multiple long missions at the same time, work 24/7/365, and save money.
The 65-foot Saildrone Surveyor offers multibeam ocean mapping that is International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) compliant down to 23,000 feet (7,000 m), which is higher quality than what is provided by conventional techniques. Developers of wind farms need a thorough understanding of the ocean floor and constant monitoring for topographical changes brought on by the redistribution of sediment by ocean currents. Survey ships are traditionally used to map the oceans, but they are costly and challenging to reserve, which results in expensive construction delays. The Saildrone Surveyor can work without a crew and map for more than 180 days without stopping. It can do this faster and for a lot less money than traditional survey ships.
The 23-foot Explorer provides consistent, year-round monitoring of a wide range of metocean data, replacing fixed buoys and met towers that must be installed and maintained in specific locations and are difficult to obtain permits for. Saildrone Explorers, in contrast to buoys, can begin gathering data across the wind energy area without the need for a permit or ship installation. The Saildrone Explorer can run for up to a year using only wind and solar power, with no carbon emissions, while sending important data back to Mission Control in real time and sailing back to base for maintenance and calibration.
The 33-foot Voyager can perform IHO-compliant multibeam ocean mapping down to 984 feet and is equipped with a full suite of metocean sensors, as well as a sub-bottom profiler to recognize and characterize layers of sediment or rock beneath the seafloor (300 m). The Voyager is also designed to provide ongoing, superior situational awareness for wind farm security. With the help of passive acoustics, optical cameras, and cutting-edge machine learning algorithms, Saildrone can identify natural visitors like whales, seabirds, and bats to help protect the environment. It can also find anything near offshore wind farms, such as commercial and recreational boats or other vessels that may choose not to send their location.
Saildrone’s autonomous vehicles have demonstrated their impressive capabilities in numerous operational missions for science, ocean mapping, and maritime security, covering nearly 1,000,000 nautical miles from the Arctic to the Antarctic. More than 20,000 days at sea in some of the most severe weather conditions on earth have been logged by the Saildrone fleet.
