Improving data collection for subsea inspectionCopy Link

Background 

EDPR currently operates, develops and builds a number of offshore wind farms around the world. The OWiX initiative is supporting EDPR to identify transferable solutions to its innovation challenges.

Offshore wind turbines are connected by a series of subsea array cables and transmit power back to land via subsea export cables, connected to a substation. Each cable is connected to the substructure of a turbine via a cable entry point. The wind farm operator must monitor all of the cables, cable entry points, substructures and surrounding seabeds for structural integrity and movement, before any issues arise. Cables are the focus of these campaigns with cable issues accounting for over 80% of insurance claims on offshore wind farms.

Current methods of inspection require large vessels which are very expensive and require considerable manpower to operate. Dive teams or ROVs mounted on dedicated vessels are also used to undertake the surveys. Data is therefore expensive to capture and it is not taken that frequently. A solution is required to minimise the use of vessels and the need for offshore personnel to reduce the overall cost of subsea surveys and inspection campaigns.

Whilst not limiting the technologies from solution providers, it is expected that solutions would consider innovations from some of the following areas:

• Remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs)
• Robotics and mechatronics
• Heavy engineering and manufacturing
• Artificial intelligence
• Nuclear
• Sensor systems
• Aerospace
• Marine
• Rail
• Construction and bridges
• Drones
• Crawlers
• Ultrasonics
• Autonomous vehicles

To meet the desired timescale and risks, it is preferred that the proposed solution, or the key part(s) of the solution, has been commercially proven in other sectors or within a test program which includes offshore conditions trials.

Rewards and benefits

Successful applicants will be given an opportunity to pitch to EDPR. The package may also include:

• Support from the ORE Catapult or the KTN
• Support in the development of a prototype or pilot
• Technical support
• A place in KTN or ORE Catapult events
• A potential business collaboration
• Investor introductions (if investment is required)

Solution Requirements

Functional Requirements

• A solution should be a cost-effective subsea survey methodology for cables, substructures and surrounding seabed surveys. It should deliver improved data on cable, substructure and seabed health, improving current levels of temporal and spatial resolution.
• A solution should not rely on the use of divers due to the need to reduce QHSE risks in operations.
• A solution would preferably demonstrate varying levels of autonomy but this is not a necessity.
• A solution must work in shallow areas and still achieve the results that can be achieved within deeper water.
• Solutions 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.

Technical Characteristics

• A solution should gather data on the site more frequently than once per year, which is the current average time between campaigns.
• A solution must monitor the structural health of the cable, inspect for mechanical failure, occurrences of cable free span and inspect the j-tube and cable protection system.
• A solution should be able to produce some or all of the following data:
  • Seabed morphology (slopes, hollows, sand waves/banks etc.) and properties;
  • UXO location and size;
  • Cable depth, burial and exposure;
  • Foundation scour, weld integrity and corrosion protection condition;
  • J-tube (cable entry system) configuration;
  • Cathodic protection system;
  • Jacket structure x-brace condition.
• A solution should have some or all of the following data communications and navigation capabilities:
  • Ability to locate and track cable routes;
  • Ability to locate and inspect foundation scour and structural properties;
  • Collision avoidance for subsea infrastructure;
  • Ability to communicate data and receive commands with minimal vessel requirement;
  • Ability to charge vehicle with minimal vessel requirement;
  • Power and communications connections may be possible from existing wind farm infrastructure.
• A solution should provide data in an accessible format. Visual presentation is preferred.
• A solution should be 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.

Operating Conditions

• The device must be capable of working in offshore conditions.
• Solutions must be able to be operated safely and reliably in offshore conditions of:
  • Up to 15m/s wind speeds;
  • 2.5m wave heights;
  • ambient temperatures of -10°C to +40°C;
  • Water depths up to 60m for fixed bottom foundations.
• Cable length is in the region of 600 km and wind farms can cover areas up to 700 km² as with the UK CFD allocation Round 3 sites.

Deployment Timescale

• Launch of the Competition: 12 March 2019
• Deadline for applications: 30 April 2019
• Selection and notification of finalists: 31 May 2019
• Solutions should be:
  • Fully deployable for prototype testing within 12 months of competition win.
  • Full commercial deployment within 2 year (there are operational sites that a solution could start work on immediately if the system is already commercially available).

Eligibility and assessment criteria

Entrants to this competition must be:

• Established businesses, startups, SMEs or individual entrepreneurs
• UK based or have the intention to set up a UK base

Applications will be assessed on:

• Relevance to the topic
• Innovative nature of the subject
• Coherence of the proposed business model
• Feasibility/ economic viability
• Development potential
• Maturity of project/solution
• Ability to launch project quickly/Ease of implementation
• Price/quality ratio
• Suitability for the UK Market (inc. building regulations and certification etc.).

Cost Requirement and Market Size

• A new solution should gather equivalent or improved data for significantly less than £400k/year (please treat as an indicative figure because it is highly site specific).
• As the end of 2018 there were 102 wind farms installed in the world greater than 10MW, excluding demonstration sites, prototypes and test centres. This indicates a current annual market of £40.8m per year. The market will also grow at a rate of 9% per year until 2025.

IP and Potential Commercial Route

• 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.
• Any commercial deployment of 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.
• Where necessary, a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) may be signed to uphold confidentiality in the engagement between the Solution Provider(s) and Innovation Challenger.
• Innovate UK, ORE Catapult and KTN do not take any share of IP ownership or enter into commercial venture through the OWiX programme.