Periodic Reporting for period 2 - ATLANTIS (The Atlantic Testing Platform for Maritime Robotics: New Frontiers for Inspection and Maintenance of Offshore Energy Infrastructures.)
Reporting period: 2021-07-01 to 2023-12-31
The EU and the wind power sector have ambitious aims for cost-reduction to make wind power – especially offshore wind power – more cost-efficient. With the current technology base, the O&M costs account for up to 30 % of the total cost of energy for offshore wind power. The ATLANTIS project has established a pioneer pilot infrastructure capable of demonstrating key enabling robotic technologies for inspection and maintenance of offshore wind farms, called ATLANTIS Test Centre. This large-scale pilot featuring weather and sea-state conditions from the Atlantic Ocean, is supported by a set of industry-oriented showcases that offer concrete testing scenarios that capture the end-user needs for the inspection and maintenance below and above water. The ATLANTIS Test Centre takes advantage of the Windfloat Atlantic offshore wind farm, which is located 20km off the coast of Viana do Castelo.
The ATLANTIS project strategically approached a spectrum of technical and non-technical challenges, fundamentally altering the landscape of inspection and maintenance for offshore wind farms. From a technical perspective, ATLANTIS revolutionized inspection methodologies, leveraging advanced robotics and situational awareness technologies to enhance precision, reduce operational costs, and optimize maintenance planning. A total of nine robots (9) were developed. This innovative approach significantly mitigated risks associated with manual inspections, ensuring robust structural assessments while adhering to stringent safety standards. It was in fact demonstrated that robots, which are less sensitive to weather conditions, increase the workability at site by almost two times on average. With respect to cold months, which have harsher weather conditions and register the highest number of failures, the integration of robotic-based O&M solutions increased the site accessibility by four times.
The ATLANTIS project strategically approached a spectrum of technical and non-technical challenges, fundamentally altering the landscape of inspection and maintenance for offshore wind farms. From a technical perspective, ATLANTIS revolutionized inspection methodologies, leveraging advanced robotics and situational awareness technologies to enhance precision, reduce operational costs, and optimize maintenance planning. A total of nine robots (9) were developed. This innovative approach significantly mitigated risks associated with manual inspections, ensuring robust structural assessments while adhering to stringent safety standards. It was in fact demonstrated that robots, which are less sensitive to weather conditions, increase the workability at site by almost two times on average. With respect to cold months, which have harsher weather conditions and register the highest number of failures, the integration of robotic-based O&M solutions increased the site accessibility by four times.
The ATLANTIS project is strategically positioned to accelerate the time-to-market of robotic technologies through several steps. ATLANTIS Test Centre is a dedicated pilot infrastructure that serves as a near-real and real testing scenario for functional validation, significantly reducing the time typically required for de-risking new technologies in offshore settings. Secondly, the project fostered collaboration between diverse stakeholders, such as SMEs, research institutions, and academia, by providing them with access to the ATLANTIS Test Centre and its resources free of charge. This collaboration streamlined the exchange of knowledge, resources, and expertise, expediting the development and refinement of robotic technologies.
The project developed multiple robotic platforms, ranging from underwater to aerial robotics, including, new technology to support the O&M operations through marine robotic platforms. Over than 32 demonstrations were performed during the project. Through these demonstrations the shortening of the time-to-market was achieved (e.g. >50% of development time was reduced for concrete cases). These demonstrations included also tests from external entities. In addition to this, ATLANTIS promoted 5 offshore demonstrations in a real operating scenario from the offshore wind farm.
ATLANTIS project enabled the world’s first demonstration of two heterogeneous robots (RAVEM UAV and NAUTILUS ASV), operating autonomously and simultaneously in a commercial offshore wind farm with floating foundations in the Atlantic Ocean.
The ATLANTIS Test Center makes it possible to validate technologies across the entire range of TRL. The testing can be divided into two different stages: Coastal and Offshore Testbeds. This is aimed towards technologies of lower TRLs, as the testing occurs in a near-real environment. This generates a testing methodology that allows the reduction of time-to-market of new technologies, while keeping costs affordable to start-ups and SMES.
In the context of this project, there was an involvement of at least 78 persons in the workforce: 49 researchers and 29 non-researchers from the R&D institutions, universities, SMES and large companies. More than 50 (media) articles describing ATLANTIS, or its results can already be found in news or journals. The project achieved 7 conference papers, 22 scientific articles published in international journals, 7 press-releases, 4 workshops organized, 9 flyers for technology description, 14 videos describing the technologies and the ATLANTIS Test Centre, >30 participation in conferences and fairs.
The project developed multiple robotic platforms, ranging from underwater to aerial robotics, including, new technology to support the O&M operations through marine robotic platforms. Over than 32 demonstrations were performed during the project. Through these demonstrations the shortening of the time-to-market was achieved (e.g. >50% of development time was reduced for concrete cases). These demonstrations included also tests from external entities. In addition to this, ATLANTIS promoted 5 offshore demonstrations in a real operating scenario from the offshore wind farm.
ATLANTIS project enabled the world’s first demonstration of two heterogeneous robots (RAVEM UAV and NAUTILUS ASV), operating autonomously and simultaneously in a commercial offshore wind farm with floating foundations in the Atlantic Ocean.
The ATLANTIS Test Center makes it possible to validate technologies across the entire range of TRL. The testing can be divided into two different stages: Coastal and Offshore Testbeds. This is aimed towards technologies of lower TRLs, as the testing occurs in a near-real environment. This generates a testing methodology that allows the reduction of time-to-market of new technologies, while keeping costs affordable to start-ups and SMES.
In the context of this project, there was an involvement of at least 78 persons in the workforce: 49 researchers and 29 non-researchers from the R&D institutions, universities, SMES and large companies. More than 50 (media) articles describing ATLANTIS, or its results can already be found in news or journals. The project achieved 7 conference papers, 22 scientific articles published in international journals, 7 press-releases, 4 workshops organized, 9 flyers for technology description, 14 videos describing the technologies and the ATLANTIS Test Centre, >30 participation in conferences and fairs.
The project has shown that the use of robotic technologies in inspection operations can reduce the O&M costs up to 50% and reduce as much as 70% of the down time of wind turbines due to inspection and maintenance operations. Additionally, with the reduction of required human resources, crewless, autonomous support vessels can be used, reducing the environmental impact of I&M activities in as much as 25%. All of these factors, combined with the described above contribute to the competitiveness of renewable energies over more traditional non-renewable energy sources, contributing this way towards the UN sustainable goals. In the case of ATLANTIS, where the use of robotic technologies could allow to push operational limits a bit forward, considering a maximum wave height of 2 m and a maximum wind speed around 10 m/s, the accessibility to the Offshore Wind farm increases up to 48%. In this case, it is possible to raise workable vessel hours 35 percent over the original weather windows. When computing the LCOE for an offshore wind power plant where O&M activities are performed accordingly to the ATLANTIS methodology and technological solutions, the annual O&M costs will be reduced by a 10% factor.
ATLANTIS has advanced the field by integrating cutting-edge robotics and AI technologies for underwater, surface and aerial inspections, culminating in sophisticated robotic platforms capable of navigating complex environments. The project's emphasis on scalable autonomy, multimodal perception, and novel manipulation capabilities has surpassed conventional methodologies, fostering a new era in offshore wind farm maintenance. The ATLANTIS test centre is a one of a kind IMR-oriented testing ground for testing robotic technologies. The facility provides all related logistics services to allow deployment of assets, has a dedicated IT infrastructure to allow remote monitoring of the operations taking place from the adjacent control room. Having an international airport within a 30 minutes’ drive, the ATLANTIS testing centre is easily accessible for any companies wanting to test and deploy their assets in such a scenario.
ATLANTIS has positively impacted the socio-economic landscape, it was estimated through simulations that the waiting time due to bad weather conditions might be reduced by almost 60%, regardless of the task duration. This optimization translates to substantial cost savings for operators, fostering a more sustainable and economically viable offshore energy sector. ATLANTIS positions European companies as leaders in offshore wind innovation on the global stage: this leadership fosters market expansion opportunities and amplifies Europe's potential for exporting cutting-edge renewable energy technologies. In alignment with EU objectives, ATLANTIS supports the attainment of renewable energy targets by promoting cleaner energy sources through technological innovation and practical application in offshore wind farms.
ATLANTIS has advanced the field by integrating cutting-edge robotics and AI technologies for underwater, surface and aerial inspections, culminating in sophisticated robotic platforms capable of navigating complex environments. The project's emphasis on scalable autonomy, multimodal perception, and novel manipulation capabilities has surpassed conventional methodologies, fostering a new era in offshore wind farm maintenance. The ATLANTIS test centre is a one of a kind IMR-oriented testing ground for testing robotic technologies. The facility provides all related logistics services to allow deployment of assets, has a dedicated IT infrastructure to allow remote monitoring of the operations taking place from the adjacent control room. Having an international airport within a 30 minutes’ drive, the ATLANTIS testing centre is easily accessible for any companies wanting to test and deploy their assets in such a scenario.
ATLANTIS has positively impacted the socio-economic landscape, it was estimated through simulations that the waiting time due to bad weather conditions might be reduced by almost 60%, regardless of the task duration. This optimization translates to substantial cost savings for operators, fostering a more sustainable and economically viable offshore energy sector. ATLANTIS positions European companies as leaders in offshore wind innovation on the global stage: this leadership fosters market expansion opportunities and amplifies Europe's potential for exporting cutting-edge renewable energy technologies. In alignment with EU objectives, ATLANTIS supports the attainment of renewable energy targets by promoting cleaner energy sources through technological innovation and practical application in offshore wind farms.