Irish company Xocean has carried out survey work using a vessel remotely controlled from shore at the 504MW Greater Gabbard offshore wind farm off the Suffolk coast of eastern England.
Xocean’s XO-450 unmanned surface vessel (USV) surveyed the seabed at seven of the project’s 140 turbine sites.
Data collected was monitored from shore in real-time by operators located in the UK, to validate data collection before the vessel departed the work locations, the company said.
XO-450 is about the size of an average car – 4.5 metres – and half the weight (750kg).
It can be monitored and controlled 24/7 via a satellite connection by a team at an onshore control centre.
Greater Gabbard is a joint venture between SSE Renewables and Innogy.
SSE Renewables head of operations Jeremy Williamson said: “We are constantly looking for innovative ways in which we can operate our fleet of renewables assets.
“Xocean’s vessel will allow us to carry out our work in a more efficient, and most importantly for SSE Renewables and our partners Innogy, in the safest way possible.
“We’re really interested to see how this sort of work can help improve our industry and look forward to working with Xocean in future.”
Xocean chief executive James Ives said: “Our USV platform has demonstrated itself to be a safe, reliable and low carbon solution for the collection of ocean data.
“We are delighted to be working with SSE and Innogy on this ground-breaking project.”
Greater Gabbard has been in operation since 2012.