The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers won a 2023 Innovation Award for its 6.5-foot drone, the SURVEYOR AMY. Designed by a team of 36 employees, the vessel can travel at 16 knots and collect hydrographic survey data, including water depth and seafloor structure. This information is critical to New York and New Jersey's coastal storm risk management program. The vessel can collect data for dam safety, levee and bridge inspections, and remote shallow water locations that are inaccessible to ships. It can also help in emergency situations by being up and running within hours. The spacecraft's multi-beam system can collect up to 20,000 high-resolution, three-dimensional detail points per second along the seafloor. The ship is unique in that it is able to right itself when ocean conditions cause it to tip over. The project was led by Francis Postiglione, a long-time Army Corps employee and chief of the survey and mapping department.
Norwegian crane specialist Motus Technology has been awarded a contract by Seatrium to design and build the platform main crane for the Empire Wind 1 offshore substation. The crane, designed to lift 5 tonnes at a height of 30 metres, will be delivered to Seatrium’s Singapore shipyard and then installed in Long Island. The crane will comply with U.S. statutory laws and regulations for inspection, installation and operation in U.S. federal offshore areas. The 810-megawatt offshore wind project will power hundreds of thousands of New York homes and contribute to America’s energy transition goals for a low-carbon future.
French subsea power cable manufacturer Nexans and transmission system operator TenneT have signed cancellation contracts for the BalWin3 and LanWin4 offshore grid connection projects to connect North Sea offshore wind farms to the German grid. The contracts, worth a total of €5.5 billion, will be responsible for the engineering, procurement, construction and installation of high-voltage direct current (HVDC) cables. Nergesen will use its new 525 kV HVDC XLPE cable technology and innovative "quad-bundle" cabling method on the project.
Swire Renewable Energy Limited has signed a memorandum of understanding with Tianli Offshore Wind Technology Co., Ltd. to provide operations and maintenance services to Taiwan’s offshore wind turbine industry and the Asia-Pacific region. The agreement aims to improve the efficiency, reliability and sustainability of offshore wind farms in Taiwan and other markets. Swire New Energy has established a strong presence in Taiwan, contributing to key projects.
Research from Plymouth Marine Laboratory identified five high-risk areas where floating plastic waste poses the greatest risk to North Atlantic marine life. Plastic waste entered the world's aquatic ecosystems in 2016 and is expected to triple by 2030. Land-based plastic sources account for approximately 80% of plastic pollution in the marine environment, including disposable items such as plastic bags, bottles, wrapping paper, and food. Containers and cutlery are common. More than 4,000 marine and coastal species are affected by marine plastic debris, with some species more sensitive to pollution. The study assessed the risks of terrestrial plastic litter to key marine megafauna and selected productive and biodiverse habitats. The identified high risk zones (HRZ) include British waters, the Azores, the French and US Atlantic coasts, and the US Gulf of Mexico. The most dangerous marine megafauna are seabirds, cetaceans, turtles and cartilaginous fishes. Mangroves and coral reefs are the most dangerous habitats, with entanglement and suffocation causing coral and mangrove branches to break and become diseased.
British offshore energy company Verlume has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Swedish energy technology company SeaTwirl to collaborate on the electrification of offshore assets and decarbonization of the oil and gas industry. The partnership aims to identify opportunities in renewable energy and subsea energy storage, with the goal of leveraging its combined technologies to commercialize customized systems. Verlume’s subsea energy storage system is designed to be independent of renewable energy inputs.
Kongsberg Discovery launches Seapath® 385, a system that combines inertial technology with advanced hydrographic navigation algorithms. The system integrates raw inertial sensor data from Kongsberg Discovery’s MGC® or MRU along with GNSS data and corrections. The system offers unique capabilities, with dead reckoning performance second to none. Kongsberg Discovery further enhances robustness by innovatively using GNSS antennas for positioning and heading determination. This modular system is easy to install, operates continuously, and offers high measurement accuracy with data rates up to 200Hz for multiple monitoring points.
Saipem has signed a letter of intent to develop a CO2 offshore transport and storage facility for the Northern Endurance Partnership (NEP) and Net Zero Teesside Power (NZTP) projects in the UK east coast cluster. The project will serve the Teesside East Coast cluster from 2027, transporting and storing around 4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. Saipem’s scope of work includes the engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) of approximately 145-kilometres of offshore pipelines and associated landing points and onshore export facilities for the project.
Unique Group has secured orders for Kongsberg Digital’s cNODE transponders, μPAP SSBL systems and EM2042 multi-beam echo sounders (MBES), enabling the company to expand its subsea equipment rental pool. The order will expand Unique’s Singapore base to provide customers in Southeast Asia with the calibration-free µPAP SSBL system and the lightweight EM2042, due in September 2023.
Dutch marine services company Boskalis has completed support for Ocean Winds’ 882 MW Moray West offshore wind farm in Scotland. The company deploys six vessels for a variety of activities including geotechnical and geophysical survey works, subsea rock installation, monopile transport and offshore substation platform installation. Once operational, the offshore wind farm will provide 882 megawatts of electricity, equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of 1.33 million households. The project is expected to generate electricity for the first time in 2024 and has a service life of more than 25 years. Under the recent power purchase agreement, Amazon will purchase 473 megawatts of clean electricity from wind farms.