In A World First, An Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Inspects Offshore Wind Farm

Beam, which provides high-tech offshore wind services, has deployed the world’s first autonomous underwater vehicle driven by AI or Artificial intelligence.

The technology was used to inspect jacket structures on the Seagreen offshore wind farm in Scotland, a joint venture partnership between SSE Renewables, TotalEnergies, and PTTEP.

Though such inspections are usually manual and time-consuming, AI helps perform complicated tasks without human intervention, boosting the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of surveys and underwater inspections.

It also improves inspection data quality, is more precise and allows for 3D reconstruction of structures along with getting visual data.

Brian Allen, CEO of Beam, said that this technology has massive potential and wouldn’t be possible without clients like SSE Renewables.

Seagreen has been operating since October 2023 and is the world’s deepest fixed-bottom offshore wind farm.

The Beam project has offered important observations for autonomous tech on offshore wind structures. The data garnered by Beam will help maintain operational reliability at the wind farm and offer important insights into marine growth and erosion at the foundations.

Matthew Henderson, technical asset manager—Substructure and Asset Lifecycle at SSE Renewables, said this technology shows that autonomous inspections can decrease the workforce needed for planned inspections.

It is also less time-consuming and the data is precise and helps in integrity planning. The data is also collected at a low risk.

Beam will roll out this new technology throughout 2025 and 2026 across its fleet of DP2 ships and underwater vehicles.

References: Smart Energy, Offshore Energy