Drones used to complete latest cable survey
30th January 2025
A fleet of seagoing drones – unscrewed survey vessels (USVs), to use the correct term – have completed survey work for a major new cable route that will link the huge Ossian floating wind farm, off North East Scotland, to the National Grid in England, providing the capacity for Scotland to ‘export’ energy that will power up to 6m English homes.
The drones completed the detailed survey work over the 420km route in 13 months, surviving 11 named storms during the process. The data collected will support Ossian’s engineering and development teams and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to identify the most viable routes for the power cables.
A repeated criticism of the pace of offshore wind farm development has been the lack of infrastructure ashore to bring the power generated to where it is needed. The new cable will feed into a revamped National Grid, which the government confirmed is being ‘fast-tracked’, with a £5bn investment over the next five years, to address this issue.
The use of USVs allowed for efficient, cost-effective and sustainable data collection with minimal impact on local habitats and fishing activities, according to the company.
Kevin Harnett, CEO of XOCEAN, the survey company undertaking the work, said: “The survey has been executed in multiple phases, with up to six USVs operating in the North Sea to capture data in a safe, economic and carbon-neutral way.”
Ossian is positioned to become one of the world’s largest floating offshore wind farms. In July last year the project submitted its consent application for its offshore array to the Scottish Government. Extensive consultation has taken place over the past three years to assess the project’s 858km² site, located 84km off the Aberdeenshire coast.
A spokesperson for the company told FN: “We are currently undertaking fisheries engagement and looking to undertake Environmental Impact Assessment scoping for the Ossian transmission infrastructure in February 2025.”
This story was taken from the latest issue of Fishing News. For more up-to-date and in-depth reports on the UK and Irish commercial fishing sector, subscribe to Fishing News here or buy the latest single issue for just £3.50 here.
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