Spanish companies Navantia, Eolos Floating Lidar Solutions and Alerion, together with the University of Seville, have completed pilot and demonstration tests in the Port of Ceuta focused on developing technology and services based on unmanned vehicles for the inspection and diagnosis of offshore wind farms.
Navantia’s Unmanned Service Vehicle USV Vendaval has been operating since 2019 at the port and has been combined with advanced data acquisition systems operated by Eolos, an autonomous drone technology developed by the University of Seville and a specialised industrial drone for wind turbine inspections provided by Alerion.
The partners said the tests have successfully confirmed the proper operation and performance in real environment conditions of autonomous unmanned vessels working jointly and collaboratively with Lidar and meteoceanic sensors in combination with autonomous drones.
The work has established a new platform for the inspection, diagnosis and monitoring of wind turbines in offshore wind farms, they said.
“Through this unmanned platform, it will be possible to automate a large part of the processes and reduce human activity, thus significantly reducing the safety risks and the costs at sea,” the companies said.
Navantia commercial director of green energy Abel Mendez Diaz said: “With these first tests, Navantia demonstrates its firm and real commitment to the application and development of state-of-the-art naval technology to the renewable energy activities and specifically to offshore wind power.”
Eolos director of innovation Jordi Puigcorbe said: “The results of these tests demonstrate the enormous potential that unmanned vehicles have when they work collaboratively to make the operation and maintenance of offshore wind farms safer and more efficient.
“The drone technology of the University of Seville and the already operational commercial drone of Alerion fit perfectly into the new unmanned vehicle platform proposed by Navantia and Eolos.”