Offshore critical national infrastructure, such as subsea cables and wind farms, requires an increasing number of vessels for surveys and asset integrity inspections to ensure safe operations, and decrease downtime through preventative maintenance. Maintenance and inspections cost ~£18m/yr for a 1GW wind-farm (£900m @50GW anticipated by 2030 in UK; Crown Estate). The global asset integrity management market size is projected to grow from £17bn in 2021 to £21.5bn by 2026 (CAGR 4.9%, Business Wire) which could create a £10bn+ TAM. Additionally, with many governments committing to UN30x30 to protect 30% of their territorial waters an increase in the number of vessels for environmental monitoring will be required.

Ad Hoc Marine Design Ltd (AHMD) has been working with a client on the development of hydrogen powered autonomous swath vessels for marine protected area environmental monitoring and offshore wind farm surveys and inspections.

This project will allow AHMD to continue to innovate and optimise its novel design and vessel developments. Taking the vessel from concept to a complete design to ensure a clear route to commercialisation. It will enable AHMD to respond to the changing market conditions and stay ahead of three of the maritime industry's biggest trends; autonomy, composite materials, and hydrogen fuels. The project will also enable the inclusion of zero emission power trains into smaller but more energy efficient smart vessel designs to reduce the cost of offshore wind farm developments and maintenance.

The project adheres to the scope technologies of "energy and environment technologies" through its potential future deployments and applications in both OSW and MPAs and "robotics and smart machines" as the design will be optimised for autonomous operations and control.

The project meets the challenge themes of "energy generation, storage" through the design of a novel storage solution for the cryogenic hydrogen tanks in accordance with the IGF codes as well as the "zero emission powertrain systems" through the integration of the cryogenic hydrogen systems and PEMFC into the vessel.

A successful project is defined by the completion of the detailed vessel design including integration of the hydrogen storage system and powertrain into the novel SWATH design