Successful applicants will be given an opportunity to pitch their innovation to SSER. Selected solution(s) may be trialled at SSER sites, with the possibility of further roll out if trials are successful.

SSER is a leading developer and operator of renewable energy across the UK and Ireland, with a portfolio of around 4GW of onshore wind, offshore wind and hydro. SSER has the largest offshore wind development pipeline in the UK and Ireland at over 6GW and has an onshore wind pipeline across both markets in excess of 1GW. As part of ongoing asset life assessment and life extension activities, focussed non-destructive testing (NDT) work is required to validate assumptions on component fatigue lives and determine the extent of known issues. These works are critical for understanding asset integrity and for risk management as existing assets age. Adoption of further automated and remote NDT technology will allow SSER to move towards a future scenario of remote maintenance, leading to safer and more efficient operations.&nbsp; SSER currently uses a suite of NDT methods, both at height and subsea. These NDT techniques are currently administered by divers (for subsea assets) or rope access technicians (for assets at height). Testing undertaken by personnel in conditions which can also include confined spaces and other hazardous environments, presents risk which SSER would like to mitigate as far as possible.

Background

75ab3503-2834-4842-9041-0d2b1a494867/RemotenondestructivetestingNDT.jpg

The challenge is to reduce personnel deployed in high-risk remote environments by automating methods for accessing target components. Solutions should enable delivery of cost-effective NDT campaigns on offshore wind farms either at height or subsea. At present rope access and diving are employed to conduct a wide range of NDT activities, therefore proposals are welcome for cost-effective solutions to cover any or all of these techniques or processes, including but not limited to:
<ul>
<li>The completion of the following techniques: - HD camera / photogrammetry - MPI (Magnetic Particle Inspection) - Eddy Current - ACFM (Alternating Current Field Measurement) - UT (Ultrasonic Testing) - TOFD (Time of Flight Diffraction)</li>
<li>Methods of determining the effectiveness of completed works</li>
<li>Completion of necessary material cleaning prior to NDT (note that for many NDT techniques, prior cleaning of the area is essential)</li>
<li>Competency assessment processes for the review/sign-off of personnel</li>
<li>Data-driven methods to target inspected zones most effectively</li>
</ul>
Proposals are welcome from:
<ul>
<li>Existing market-ready technologies</li>
<li>Development proposals to improve on market-ready capability</li>
</ul>
Solution providers that can perform a full testing service in offshore operational conditions are preferred, however any solution which can provide an activity listed above, whether subsea or at height, is welcome to apply. Proposals are welcome from sensor solution providers, as long as the provision of a novel sensor leads to the removal of personnel from harmful environments (e.g. a sensor that can see through biofouling on a foundation and does not require a diver to clean the area first). While not limiting the technologies from solution providers, it is expected that solutions would consider innovations from some of the following areas:&nbsp;
<ul>
<li>Remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs)</li>
<li>Robotics and mechatronics</li>
<li>Heavy engineering and manufacturing</li>
<li>Artificial intelligence</li>
<li>Nuclear</li>
<li>Sensor systems Aerospace</li>
<li>Marine</li>
<li>Rail</li>
<li>Construction and bridges</li>
<li>Drones</li>
<li>Crawlers</li>
<li>Ultrasonics</li>
<li>Autonomous vehicles</li>
</ul>
Solutions which can provide rich data, e.g. images, size models, are preferred.

Challenge

Successful applicants will be given an opportunity to pitch to SSER representatives. Successful solutions may be trialled at SSER sites. The package may also include:
<ul>
<li>Support from KTN</li>
<li>Technical support</li>
<li>Invitation to attend or present at KTN events</li>
<li>Support if any Innovate or similar competitions are relevant.</li>
</ul>

Rewards & Benefits

Solutions are required that enable operations managers at an offshore wind farm to access target components without the use of divers or rope access technicians. Where possible, solutions should seek to use existing NDT methods, but SSER welcomes novel sensors that may not currently be used which will lead to removal of technicians and divers from hazardous environments. See Background for a list of techniques or processes that a method would need to accommodate. For context, targeted faults for NDT campaigns across components include (non-exhaustive list):
At Height
<ul>
<li>Blades - Composite degradation, cracking, fracturing - Leading edge erosion - Drainage hole blockage</li>
</ul>
Waterline and subsea
<ul>
<li>Foundations - Splash zone biofouling or damage - Pitting and/or corrosion - Characterisation of weld defects in the steel.</li>
<li>Cables - Cable Protection System (CPS) integrity </li>
</ul>
A solution should not rely on the use of divers or rope access technicians, due to the need to reduce QHSE risks in operations.&nbsp; A solution would preferably demonstrate varying levels of autonomy, but this is not a necessity. Any solution for subsea inspection should either be subsea resident or be deployable from a small vessel, preferably alongside existing offshore maintenance campaigns. In situ or static solutions will also be considered. Solutions must not require large or specialist vessels to be deployed. The proposed solutions for this challenge must be deployable without requiring changes to existing manufacturing and design of offshore wind turbines. The final solution would be used in both new build sites and operational sites, and therefore will need to be applicable to different site layouts, depths and distances from shore.&nbsp;

Functional Requirements

Techniques should be able to accurately size and assess defects in the indicative range of 25mm length by 8mm width, therefore the access method must meet these stability requirements. Sizing errors of less than 1mm would be required. A solution should consider some or all of the following data communications and navigation capabilities:&nbsp;
<ul>
<li>Ability to navigate turbines, if crawling or via aerial deployment</li>
<li>Ability to locate and track cable routes, if subsea</li>
<li>Ability to locate foundations and substructures for inspection of foundation scour and structural properties,</li>
<li>Collision avoidance for subsea infrastructure</li>
<li>Ability to communicate data and receive commands with minimal vessel requirement</li>
<li>Ability to charge vehicles with minimal vessel requirement</li>
</ul>
Power and communications connections may be possible from existing wind farm infrastructure.&nbsp; Usually, the NDT service provider would provide data in an accessible format. If an applicant plans to replace this service offering it should provide this data in a similar format. Visual presentation is preferred. A solution could consider being able to record and build up maintenance and historical data and ideally provide analytical tools to help predict future failures or the need for future campaigns.&nbsp;

Technical Requirements

Current operational limits apply to SSER sites:
<ul>
<li>Divers and ROVs are limited by current at SSER sites.</li>
<li>Rope access technicians and drone service providers are limited by wind speeds.</li>
<li>All methods of access are limited by wave height, which will dictate whether a vessel will be able to travel out to site on a given day.</li>
</ul>
Solutions must be able to be operated safely and reliably in offshore conditions of:&nbsp;
<ul>
<li>Up to 12m/s wind speeds;</li>
<li>Currents of 1.5 knots;</li>
<li>1.5m significant wave heights;</li>
<li>Ambient temperatures of -10&deg;C to +40&deg;C;</li>
<li>Water depths up to 120m (for both fixed bottom foundations and future floating applications).</li>
</ul>
When working subsea, ROVs struggle to operate in the splash zone - between sea level and 5 metres below. Solutions which can work effectively in this zone are particularly welcomed.

Operating Conditions

Launch of the Competition: 17/06/22 Deadline for applications: 02/08/22 Selection and notification of finalists: 30/08/22 Date of Pitch day: tbd

Deployment Timescale

Chosen solutions may be invited to trial at SSER sites and if trials prove successful could see uptake for routine asset testing at SSER sites. To give an indicative market size, an operator of a 500MW wind farm would spend up to &pound;500k-1m per annum on surveys and NDT campaigns for critical components.

Cost Requirement & Market Opportunity

All applicants which can successfully apply one or more of the outlined NDT approaches with their access method are welcome.

Out of Scope

Entrants to this competition must be:
<ul>
<li>Established businesses, start-ups, SMEs or individual entrepreneurs</li>
<li>UK based or have the intention to set up a UK base</li>
<li>Partnerships and consortia of organisations are welcome to apply to this competition.</li>
</ul>
Applications will be assessed on:
<ul>
<li>Relevance to the topic</li>
<li>Innovative nature</li>
<li>Feasibility/ economic viability</li>
<li>Development potential</li>
<li>Maturity of project/solution</li>
<li>Ability to launch project quickly/Ease of implementation</li>
<li>Price/quality ratio</li>
<li>Suitability for the UK and European Market</li>
</ul>
Proposals are welcome for:
<ul>
<li>Existing market-ready technologies</li>
<li>Development proposals to improve on market-ready capability&nbsp;</li>
</ul>

Eligibility & Assessment Criteria

<ul>
<li>Existing background IP associated with a potential solution will remain with Solution Provider(s). Where any new IP generation is envisaged, it will be subject to the mutual IP agreement of the Solution Provider(s) and Innovation Challenger.</li>
<li>Any commercial deployment of a transferred solution or newly developed solution, through licensing, joint venture, partnership or direct investment, will be subject to the commercial agreement between the Solution Provider(s) and Innovation Challenger.</li>
<li>Where necessary, a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) may be signed to uphold confidentiality in the engagement between the Solution Provider(s) and Innovation Challenger. (This would be expected to be after company selection, it is suggested that details of IP be not disclosed, Focus on the outcomes of the technology proposed).</li>
<li>Innovate UK and KTN do not take any share of IP ownership or enter into commercial ventures through the iX programme.</li>
</ul>

Automating Access Methods for Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) of Offshore Wind Farm Components

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Background

This challenge is brought to you by:

Automating Access Methods for Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) of Offshore Wind Farm ComponentsCopy Link

Opportunity

Challenge opens

Challenge closes

Benefit

Background

This challenge is brought to you by:

Automating Access Methods for Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) of Offshore Wind Farm Components