US-based SkySpecs, in collaboration with Danish power company Ørsted, is set to conduct an automated robotic inspection on offshore wind turbine blades at Burbo Bank Extension offshore wind farm, located in the Irish Sea.
The data collected through the inspection will enable both companies to roll out the technology on other larger-sized wind turbines.
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Ørsted senior technical project lead David-Lee Jones said: “Providing consistent image quality across the largest turbines offshore is challenging and requires consistency from the drone.
“This was the purpose of our work with SkySpecs. We really wanted to validate that their technology could provide the type of precise and robust inspection capabilities that Ørsted expects. We are pleased to announce that the inspection was a success.”
Prior to this test, Ørsted carried out the automated inspection on an 8MW offshore turbine.
The company is also planning to use this technology for the projects currently under development in Massachusetts, New Jersey and Virginia.
Additionally, the data collected by the SkySpecs technology will be used to evaluate the condition of the 80m turbine blades.
SkySpecs CTO Tom Brady said: “We are pleased that we’ve helped Ørsted move ahead with their goals. As an organisation, we are committed to applying robotic solutions to solve challenges faced by the renewable energy.
“We’re helping owners craft their predictive maintenance strategies with a mountain of blade data and analytics tools that help them understand the health of their fleet.”
SkySpecs has been delivering its automated onshore and offshore inspections technology to its customers located across the globe.
