Underwater Intelligence for Sustainable Offshore Wind Development

Offentlig prosjektsammendrag

The ocean is vital to the world’s economy. Indeed, the global ocean economy (blue economy) could double in size by 2030, reaching a gross value added of around €2.7 trillion. Employment in ocean-based industries is also set to more than double by 2030 to more than 40 million. However, the lack of awareness of sustainable ocean management techniques continues to put both the maritime resources and the economic health of marine-based industries at risk. SYRENNA has developed a new robotic ocean monitoring system – the WaterDrone – an autonomous vertical profiling sensor platform, which is moored to the ocean floor using a patent-pending system. The solution enables unmanned and autonomous underwater data collection comprising three main features: i) a water drone; ii) a mooring mechanism; and iii) a data platform. SYRENNA´s solution clearly differentiates from any competing system. Thanks to its mooring system and the mix for energy harvesting, the WaterDrone is highly robust, demands low maintenance and can remain offshore for a long period of time. The WaterDrone enables our entry-level market segment (offshore wind) to access high quality data more efficiently, accurately, and securely, allowing for a better understanding of the entire water column. This will lead to more cost-effective decisions and operations, as well as reducing environmental risks, thus bringing huge gains to the society in exploiting ocean potential and contributing to climate action. Now, the overall goal of this project is to overcome barriers and challenges related to the optimization and scale-up of WaterDrones, so that we can efficiently provide the basis for a successful commercialization and ramp-up. The WaterDrones will disrupt the market of offshore wind, completely changing the paradigm of how ocean data is collected today. We intend to generate tangible impacts for the entire ecosystem – placing the EU at the forefront, whereas SYRENNA will become one of the global market leaders.