"The UK economic opportunity in offshore wind energy is robust and growing. Further cost reduction is essential to achieve parity with fossil fuel and nuclear energy systems. The application of Robotics and Artificial Intelligence (RAI) is being assessed in all other major sectors. For offshore wind, RAI offers the opportunities to minimise the need to send personnel offshore, reduce health & safety risks, improve offshore wind turbine availability and potentially significantly reduce OPEX costs by c2.8% and reduce turbine downtime by c13%. A consortium led by ASV Ltd with SeaPlanner Ltd, Houlder, University of Portsmouth and Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult will carry out industrial research to establish the baseline for autonomous vessel operations in offshore wind and verify the timeframe for their introduction.

Windfarm Autonomous Support vessels Project (WASP) will undertake an 18-month industrial research project to benchmark the technological challenges facing the sector transition to autonomous support operations and chart a roadmap for the phased introduction of RAI systems for spares supply, asset surveillance, security patrol and crew transfer. The project will also create design specifications for new offshore command & control infrastructure and an innovative autonomous vessel with integrated robotic cargo capability.

WASP will pull through existing enabling technology from project partners ASV Ltd (autonomous vessel AI technology), Houlder (gyro stabilised robotic arm) and SeaPlanner (offshore wind marine coordinator systems) demonstrating their application to offshore wind cargo supply. University of Portsmouth will develop decision support algorithms to enhance SeaPlanner marine coordination software enabling integrated manned and autonomous vessel offshore operations. ORE Catapult's cost and performance analysis will pinpoint how this new capability increases uptime of offshore wind turbines.

These products will be equally applicable to adjacent maritime sectors such as Oil & Gas, wave & tidal energy, border patrol, fishery protection, search & rescue and merchant cargo handling, where there is a need to reduce costs, enhance efficiency and minimise the need for manned offshore operations conducting dull and dangerous missions.

Insights from the project will be made available by ORE Catapult to raise awareness in the offshore wind sector of the huge benefits that RAI can bring and to drive investment in RAI technology and infrastructure. This project will help stimulate the UK supply chain to become a major player in the offshore wind autonomous support vessel market."