RWE said on 15 October it had completed more than 80 successful cargo drone flights to offshore wind turbines in Germany, marking what it described as a milestone for the offshore wind industry. The company said the tests demonstrated the technical feasibility of using drones to deliver tools and spare parts directly to wind turbines at sea.
In a multi-phase pilot project, RWE tested both a long-distance autonomous drone and a short-range multirotor drone at its Arkona offshore wind farm in the Baltic Sea and Nordsee Ost offshore wind farm in the North Sea.
In September, a Skyways Version 2 cargo drone flew an autonomous route of more than 40 kilometres from Mukran Port to the Arkona wind farm. The drone carried a load of up to 10 kilogrammes, approached the target turbine, locked onto the nacelle, performed an automated cargo drop, and returned to its base without manual intervention. Each flight took less than 30 minutes each way, compared with at least one hour by boat. The tests were conducted beyond the visual line of sight (BVLOS), using a predefined flight path independent of mobile network coverage.
Earlier this year, RWE tested short-range multirotor drones at Nordsee Ost. In these operations, drones delivered loads of up to 30 kilogrammes from a service operation vessel directly to wind turbines. The company said these drones are now capable of carrying up to 100 kilogrammes. According to RWE, the short-range flights demonstrated potential time savings of at least 1.5 hours per turbine visit, while also reducing fuel use and technician workload.
During these short-range drone flight trials, supported by Ampelmann Operations, a medical emergency scenario was also simulated, in which a drone successfully delivered supplies to a turbine nacelle.
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RWE said the cargo drone project is part of its wider efforts to integrate new logistics technologies into offshore operations to improve safety, cut costs, reduce carbon emissions, and increase turbine availability. The company plans to expand the trials and move toward scaling up the operations.
The 295 MW Nordsee Ost offshore wind farm, operational since May 2015, is located some 35 kilometres north of Helgoland. The wind farm comprises 48 Senvion 6 MW wind turbines.
Arkona is located 35 kilometres northeast of the island of Rügen. The offshore wind farm, which was commissioned in 2019, features 60 Siemens SWT 6.0-154 turbines.