Motive Offshore Group, specialist in marine equipment fabrication and rental, has appointed Declan Slattery as Chief Financial Officer.
METIS Cyberspace Technology S.A. has launched a new software module to tackle the huge challenges shipping companies face in monitoring vessel performance effectively to meet Charter Party Agreement (CPA) reporting needs.
LLOG Exploration Company, L.L.C. announces that Rick Fowler, the Company's Chief Operating Officer, will retire effective December 1, 2020. Eric Zimmermann, LLOG's current Vice President of Geology and Business Development, will serve as Chief Operating Officer upon Rick's retirement.
As around 75% of Mexico’s oil and gas producing wells are ageing, intervention activities should remain resilient in the years ahead, likely surpassing $3 billion from 2021 to 2023, a Rystad Energy analysis shows. Around 30% of that will be spent onshore with the remaining 70% going offshore.
McDermott International, Ltd. has been awarded a contract to provide front end engineering and design (FEED) services for the INPEX-operated Ichthys Liquified Natural Gas Field Development.
They say few US Presidents ever really change a great deal. Certainly, the bolder aspirations of the Democratic campaign – among them tackling the coronavirus pandemic, healthcare, the economy and climate change – may founder on the hard grit of Washington politics.
Acteon Group Ltd, a global provider of industry-leading products and services for the marine and subsea renewable, nearshore construction and oil and gas sectors, announced that Chris Johnston will be joining InterMoor as group managing director of its global moorings and anchors business. He will be based in Houston, TX, USA.
Canada has an abundance of renewable energy sources that are helping power our country’s clean growth future and the Government of Canada is investing in renewables to reduce emissions, create jobs and invigorate local economies in a post COVID-19 pandemic world.
The Honourable Seamus O’Regan, Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources, has announced one of Canada’s largest-ever investments in tidal energy — $28.5 million to Sustainable Marine in Nova Scotia to deliver Canada’s first floating tidal energy array.
Sustainable Marine developed an innovative floating tidal energy platform called PLAT-I that has undergone rigorous testing on the waters of Grand Passage for nearly two years. A second platform is currently being assembled in Meteghan, Nova Scotia and will be launched in Grand Passage later this year for testing before relocation to the Fundy Ocean Research Centre for Energy (FORCE) in 2021. These platforms will make up the tidal energy array.
The objective of the project is to provide up to nine megawatts of predictable and clean renewable electricity to Nova Scotia’s electrical grid. This will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 17,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year while creating new jobs in the province. The project will also demonstrate the ability to harness tides as a reliable source of renewable electricity to power homes, vehicles and businesses.
Tidal energy — a clean, renewable energy source generated by ocean tides and currents — has the potential to significantly reduce Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions and improve local air quality by displacing electricity generated from fossil fuels.
Minister O’Regan made the announcement at the Marine Renewables Canada 2020 Fall Forum, which brings together its members and industry to identify opportunities and strategize a path forward for marine renewable energy sources.
Funding for the project comes from Natural Resources Canada’s Emerging Renewables Power Program, part of Canada’s more than $180-billion Investing in Canada Infrastructure plan for public transit projects, green infrastructure, social infrastructure, trade and transportation routes and Canada’s rural and northern communities.
Quotes
“We are harnessing the power of our tides to power our homes, our businesses and our communities. This is how we build our clean energy future.”
Seamus O’Regan, Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources
“This investment will not only help propel the tidal energy industry forward in Nova Scotia, it also highlights how it can drive innovation that can lead to new jobs. It is a new and innovative approach to generating tidal energy that once again shows that Nova Scotia is the right place to explore the potential of this industry.”
Derek Mombourquette, Nova Scotia Minister of Energy and Mines
“Nova Scotia has one of the best natural resources in the world for tidal energy and provides the infrastructure and support for companies looking to grow their business. Having a demonstration site such as FORCE enables us to accelerate the commercialization of our technology. This investment will not only advance our tidal energy technology but also provide a source of clean renewable energy that has a positive impact on rural coastal communities and the environment.”
Jason Hayman, CEO Sustainable Marine
“Tidal energy is a prime example of a sector and clean technology that can spur economic development while helping Canada achieve its goals to reduce carbon emissions and act on climate change. Sustainable Marine has already successfully engaged local suppliers in its Grand Passage project, and this new project at FORCE creates more opportunities, particularly for firms with experience from other marine industries such as offshore oil and gas that are looking to diversify their business into renewable energy.”
Elisa Obermann, Executive Director, Marine Renewables Canada
Equinor has, on behalf of the partners ExxonMobil and Petrogal Brasil, awarded Baker Hughes, Halliburton and Schlumberger contracts for drilling and well services on the Bacalhau field in Brazil.
Atlantis, the global sustainable energy generation company and technology developer, alongside its partner Asturfeito SAU, announces that its VPSTTG project has been given the go-ahead to proceed to the manufacturing stage.
A new Roadmap for Smart and Autonomous Sea Transport Systems was unveiled at the SMI Forum in Singapore on October 22, by Senior Minister of State for Transportation and Foreign Affairs, Mr. Chee Hong Tat, and the Ambassador of Norway to Singapore, Ms. Anita Nergaard.
The UK has achieved the world’s first blade walk by a robot on an offshore wind turbine, thanks to BladeBUG and the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult. Over two days in mid-October, the six-legged inspect-and-repair robot repeatedly scaled blades at ORE Catapult’s 7MW Levenmouth Demonstration turbine off the coast of Fife.
BladeBUG represents a 30 per cent cost reduction on current blade inspection techniques, which are conducted by rope-access technicians, with a measurable knock-on effect to the levelized cost of energy[1]. For next generation turbines, ORE Catapult predicts the cost savings could reach as much as 50 per cent. These costs have traditionally been one of the primary areas of concern for offshore operators, as sea conditions and faster tip speeds can lead to significant blade damage over time.
Photo credit: BladeBUG
The robot is being developed under a £1 million collaboration project between BladeBUG and ORE Catapult, part funded by Innovate UK. By the project’s end next year, BladeBUG will be capable of inspecting blade surfaces for emergent cracks and imperfections, transmitting data on their condition back to shore and resurfacing the blades.
BladeBUG had previously demonstrated its abilities on blade sections and the vertical training tower at ORE Catapult’s National Renewable Energy Centre in Blyth. The blade walk at an operational offshore wind turbine has now proven that the robot can conduct lengthy deployments in real-world conditions.
During the demonstration, the robot walked 50 meters on a vertically positioned blade on the Levenmouth turbine (a length of 84 meters with the tip reaching 195 meters above the sea when upright).
The crucial capabilities demonstrated during the trial were:
“This is an incredibly significant technology that we know is being keenly watched by the industry as a potential game-changer,” said Chris Hill, ORE Catapult’s Operational Performance Director.
“It has a clear potential for cutting costs, reducing human offshore deployment and increasing blade lifetimes. But, we had yet to see how the robot would perform on a real turbine out at sea. I consider BladeBUG’s first walk at Levenmouth as offshore wind’s ‘moon walk’ – a historic milestone in the industry’s evolution. Robotics are here to stay, and they will be an essential ingredient to operating ever-expanding wind farms, deeper-water sites and faster, bigger turbines in the coming years.”
Chris Cieslak, BladeBUG CEO added: “This is such a historic moment for us as a company. It has been so exciting to see results of months of work and development in action and this latest test marks the huge progress we have made. In a little over a year we have gone from designing and testing our first prototype, to taking our first tentative steps with our Mark I robot, to now, seeing the BladeBUG robot walk along the blade of an actual offshore wind turbine. We cannot wait to perform further trials and demonstrate the capabilities further offshore.”
The robot is also a key component of the £4.2 million MIMRee projectwhich will demonstrate a fully autonomous inspection and repair mission to an offshore wind farm.
During these trials, BladeBUG will work in collaboration with an autonomous vessel and teams of drones, using a robotic arm to clean and resurface damaged blades. The final MIMRee system technology trials are set to take place in mid-2021.
[1]. Based upon a comparison of the costs of blade maintenance operations conducted by rope-access technicians with those conducted by BladeBUG over a wind farm’s lifetime.
The Tyra platforms have been used as core infrastructure of Denmark’s energy for 30 years. However, due to subsidence of the depleted reservoirs causing the platforms to sink, the filed required decommissioning and redevelopment.
On November 8, 2020, Nexans’ next-generation Cable Laying Vessel, the ‘Nexans Aurora’ was launched at Ulstein Verft. The 149.9 m long and 31 m wide vessel will be working in the offshore renewables market, installing subsea cables including cables connecting offshore wind farms to the grid and interconnector systems.
KENC Engineering has revealed two new automatic boat landing systems (ABLS). The ABLS provides a safe transfer between a CTV and large vessels and is now available in two configurations.
Sea trials conducted by a combined team of engineers from Vestdavit and H. Henriksen have provided proof of concept for SOLUSV – a new launch and recovery system that simplifies and enhances Unmanned Surface Vehicle handling. The tests took place on board a Vestland Offshore vessel, whose existing boat and davit system were modified to accommodate SOLUSV equipment before the team oversaw repeated Launch and Recovery cycles.
“We were very pleased that the testing proved that SOLUSV is an excellent method for the Launch and Recover of USVs following a period of intense development” said Kristian Moss, Technical Supervisor at Vestdavit. “Not only did the equipment prove to be very user-friendly and perform flawlessly, but it was also extremely simple to install on the vessel’s existing infrastructure, taking very little time at all.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUp-L49DsIA&feature=emb_logo
Footage from the test, which is available on Vimeo, shows the full equipment arrangement in action. The vessel’s Fast Rescue Craft stood in for the USV for the purposes of the test and was equipped with a lightweight winch drum set up with dyneema rope and a robust Telescopic Pole. The dyneema rope is eight times lighter than an equivalent steel wire, keeping the total system weight to an absolute minimum. The vessel’s davit system was also modified to take the dyneema rope.
Following the launch of the USV – accomplished by the usual method involving a boat-mounted safety offload hook – recovery is controlled completely by the operator on board the vessel. The USV returns to its station alongside the vessel, at which point the operator activates the telescopic pole extending the dyneema rope to deck level, allowing the operator to catch the rope. The soft links of the rope are then fed into the painter system and the davit respectively, at which point the USV is recovered.
“The footage emphatically demonstrates the capability of the SOLUSV system,” said Rolf Andreas Wigand, Managing Director of Vestdavit. “I am very proud of the teams at both Vestdavit and H. Henriksen who have pioneered an effective method for USV Launch and Recovery that can be achieved cost-effectively using existing equipment.”
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