NorSea Wind to Use Nordic Unmanned Drones for HVDC Platform Inspections

NorSea Wind (NorSeaGroup Wind) has signed a five-year agreement with Nordic Unmanned (NU) for the provision of drone services for the works on nine TenneT’s HVDC platforms, for which NorSea Wind won a five-year contract earlier this year. 

“It is very exciting for us to be a part of this visionary technology implementation. I believe the size and length of this contract is the first of its kind in European terms,” said Nordic Unmanned’s CEO Knut Roar Wiig.

Nordic Unmanned, a Norwegian provider of unmanned systems and sensor technology, will produce full digitalization of the nine platform structures with the use of their drones, covering drone operations for the inspection of the platforms as well as 3D modelling.

“This will give NorSea Wind the opportunity to do a visual inspection at any time. This will result in less risk compared to sending a climber in addition to the financial gain,” Wiig said.

TenneT was officially designated as the offshore grid operator in the Netherlands in 2016, with the task of developing a high-voltage grid along the North Sea coast with an intended capacity of 3.5GW in 2023.

In Germany, TenneT’s offshore grid is connecting North Sea offshore wind farms with a combined capacity of 5,332MW to the national grid.