Imagine the following scenario: A mechanic must maintain an offshore wind turbine. But en route to the rig, he loses a wrench in the deep waters of the North Sea. Without this tool, the mechanic will not be able to perform his work. What now? Return ashore without having accomplished a thing?
In light of the ambitious offshore expansion goals (for Germany this means, among other things, 30 GW by 2030) it takes practical logistics approaches for scenarios like this one. Belgium, Germany, Denmark, France, and the Netherlands have recognized this challenge and joined forces in the research project DIOL. DIOL is short for: Develop Innovative Offshore Logistics. This Tuesday, August 27, on the occasion of a meeting of the involved parties, Niedersachsen Ports (NPorts) welcomed the group of male and female experts in Cuxhaven.
DIOL: Background
Ports, in particular, play a decisive role in the much-needed expansion of offshore wind power in Europe. But without an expansion of the port capacities and an increased collaboration between the European offshore port sites these goals can barely be reached. DIOL promotes the international project for the transformation of the North Sea as Europe’s green power plant and thus plays a central role in the development of a country-transcending offshore system for renewable energies. The project focuses on a solution, where drones can be utilized for an offshore service. Such drones would both be deployed above the water’s surface and below.
“Aerial drones are being deployed at sea and on land as we speak, currently, for instance, for the inspection of rotor blades” Dirk Leibfried explains. At NPorts, he is the competent contact when it comes to the project DIOL. “Servicing the facilities at sea with the help of drones is still in its infancy. There are currently already drones in existence that can transport up to 20 kg of payload” Leibfried elaborates. In the future, this would swiftly and cost-effectively mitigate the problem of a disappeared wrench in the North Sea.
However, deploying drones faces various challenges that - depending on deployment purpose and each country's legislature - are handled differently. Within the context of DIOL, especially administrative prerequisites or obstacles, such as fly-over clearances, coordination of air lanes with the German Armed Forces, etc., or with the Pilotage Traffic Center of the waterway Weser for crossing the navigable Weser channel, or (during longer distance travel) the coordination with multiple federal states, (river) pilots, etc., will be captured so that suggestions for a solution can
Topics in Cuxhaven
At the start of the two-day project meeting, Dirk Leibfried gave an introduction to the port site. Aside from the core industries port economy, logistics, tourism, and fish or food businesses, wind energy is one of the key industries of the Economic Region of Cuxhaven. The city that is home to the German Offshore Industry Center (DOIZ) has dialed in on and optimally prepared for the business opportunities that renewable energies will bring and has established itself as the leading offshore base port along the German North Sea shore.
Malte Bories and Tim Strohbach of the Fraunhofer IFAM (Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials) gave the guests an insight into the work of the Offshore Drone Campus Cuxhaven (ODCC). Among other things, the campus’ research focuses are on the safe deployment of drones in connection with offshore works, and the development of new propulsion and material protection concepts for the deployment of such flying devices. The Lotsenbrüderschaft (Brotherhood of Pilots) Elbe gave an insight into their activity and discussed with the guests, what impact drone flights could have in the area of the Elbe waterway.
On Wednesday, August 28, a visit to the Deutsches Havariekommando (Central Command for Maritime Emergencies) in Cuxhaven is on the calendar. And again, the topic here is a discussion about the deployment of drones.
The Airports of Den Helder (Netherlands) and Esbjerg (Denmark) are also DIOL project participants. Both airports are prepared to enable the aerial approach by drones to/from offshore wind farms in the North Sea with the help of their runways.
Please find additional information about the project DIOL at https://www.nports.de/en/sustainability/sustainability-projects/diol
Photo:
The guests during the project meeting in Cuxhaven. (photo: Klinger/NPorts)
