Ocean Wind trials AI technology at floating pilot to boost offshore wind safety
Ocean Winds trials AI technology at floating pilot to boost offshore wind safety | Windpower Monthly
The developer installed UK technology startup Zelim's AI monitoring system – Zoe – at its 25MW WindFloat Atlantic project off Viana do Castelo in northern Portugal.
Zelim's Zoe technology uses cameras fitted with AI software and attached to the floating wind platforms to constantly monitor the waters surrounding the wind farm.
The UK startup claimed its technology can immediately detect objects such as people or vehicles that enter the water. By installing Zoe at the WindFloat Atlantic project, Zelim aims to demonstrate its usefulness for improving safety at offshore wind farms.
A video published by Ocean Winds shows the technology working, with objects in the water near the floating platforms detected by the Zoe software. Zoe then highlights them clearly on the camera feed with a red box and accompanying description.
A spokesperson for Ocean Winds told Windpower Monthly:
"The software includes labels of the different objects detected in the camera feed such as boats, people, turbines, among others, and once an unsafe behaviour or person is detected in the water, the software deploys an alarm to the O&M team through an online platform called WebApp warning the team who will deploy reactive measures if necessary."
They added that the AI software uses a "supervised learning" technique that helps it identify humans more accurately while avoiding assumptions.
“Finding someone in distress at sea is often a game of chance, especially when you factor in waves, sea spray, darkness and how quickly people can drift in the current," said Doug Lothian, chief technology officer at Zelim.
"We see Zoe providing a safety net around offshore assets, where if somebody ends up in the water, they will be detected and an immediate alert sent, thereby enabling a fast and efficient rescue."
Ocean Winds is a joint venture between Portuguese utility EDP Renewables and French counterpart Engie and has around 1.5GW of offshore wind capacity in its portfolio.
Elena Caja, Ocean Winds’ head of health, safety, security and environmental quality, said the company would explore the “potential deployment throughout our projects already in operation or under construction” going forward.
Related Knowledge Center: Offshore wind energy
Over the next decade, U.S. offshore wind power is expected to grow from a single 30-megawatt wind farm off Rhode Island to more than 2,000 MW of capacity along the Atlantic Seaboard. There are contracts for wind power off the coasts of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Maryland, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Virginia.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has estimated the United States has over 4,000 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind potential, enough to power the country four times over.
The growth in part being spurred by state solicitations, including in New York, where then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) set a commitment of 9,000 MW of offshore wind by 2035, and in Connecticut, where in June 2021, Gov. Ned Lamont (D) signed legislation authorizing the construction of 2,000 MW of offshore wind by 2030.
The offshore development is also being driven by an investment tax credit set to end in December 2019 and is equal to 12 percent of expenditures. U.S. Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Tom Carper (D-Del.) have introduced a bill to extend the tax credit for up to eight years.
The Interior Department has held eight competitive lease sales that resulted in 15 offshore wind leases over 1.7 million acres that has the potential for 21 GW of capacity. In February 2022, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management completed a bidding process that realized $4.37 billion for 488,000 acres across six lease areas in federal waters off New York and New Jersey.
Projects have also been proposed off the Southeast coast, off California and Hawaii, and for the Great Lakes.