Bristol-based
Subsea Rovco has been contracted to perform subsea work on Beatrice, Scotland’s largest operational offshore wind farm.
Managed from its recently established base in Edinburgh, Rovco will carry out a campaign of inspection and survey work across nominated subsea jacket locations on the wind farm, including export and inter-array cables to assist in informing the current condition and any potential maintenance requirements at the site.
The project will utilise the DPII vessel, Glomar Wave to deploy a WROV solution for asset and cable depth of burial inspections along with a hydrographic survey vessel from local supplier Moray First Marine Ltd, to support Rovco’s team while performing multi-beam and scour assessment surveys.
From the start of the tender process to completion of the works offshore, approximately 43 onshore and offshore personnel, made up of full time and contract positions will have worked on the delivery of the project.
Contract awards such as this from Beatrice, are enabling job retention, further growth of the company and full-time employment opportunities to be created, given follow-on work that will be required to maintain these assets and the expanding Scottish Wind Farm market in general.
Offshore wind, wave and tidal generation have a key role in delivering against the aim to generate 50% of Scotland’s overall energy consumption from renewable sources by 2030 with net-zero emissions by 2045. This offers the perfect environment for our autonomous future.
Martin Sutherland, Beatrice Offshore Wind Farm, said: “This is Rovco’s first year providing subsea inspections and surveys to Beatrice and I am pleased to say that it has so far been a successful first campaign.
Rovco managing director Simon Miller said: “We continue to support the growth of the offshore wind farm industry across the UK. The welcome addition of Beatrice to our portfolio means we have now worked at over 50% of the operational projects in UK waters.
“This award is a testament to the team’s hard work and dedication supporting this great sector. We are excited to continue our own growth by securing this prestigious framework agreement and year one ‘call off’ which will see us applying our significant offshore wind farm experience to our first campaign here in Scotland and also using local partners and talent to see the safe and successful completion of the work for Beatrice Offshore Windfarm Ltd.”
As well as being Scotland’s largest offshore wind farm, Beatrice is also the fourth largest in the world currently and is capable of providing enough wind-powered electricity for up to 450,000 homes.
Founded in 2015, Rovco is revolutionising the way underwater work is performed, by investing in the development of real-time artificial intelligence and 3-D vision systems for subsea robotics.