Danish offshore wind giant Ørsted has used heavy-lift cargo drones (HLCD) for the first time in a campaign at the Borssele 1&2 offshore wind farm. The company said that this endeavour would see a heavy-lift cargo drone transport cargo from a vessel to all 94 wind turbines in what it claims is a world’s first. Ørsted is using 70 kg drones which have a wingspan of 2.6 metres to transport cargo of up to 100kg, in an actual operations campaign, after the concept was tested last year at the Hornsea 1 offshore wind farm. For this campaign, Ørsted has decided to update some critical evacuation and safety equipment in each of the turbines. Normally, a vessel would sail from one wind turbine to the next, using a crane to lift each box containing the equipment onto the transition piece, after which the box would be lifted with the nacelle’s crane to reach the nacelle and then be moved to the top of the turbine. Now, the drone will simply fly back and forth from an offshore supply vessel directly to the top of the nacelle. The drone flight from the vessel to the turbine takes about four minutes per turbine, while the conventional approach without using drones can take around six hours. Taking vessel transport between the turbines and from and to shore into account, the Danish firm has been able to complete the tasks at Borssele 10-15 times faster than usual. “The drones at Borssele 1&2 will improve safety, bring down carbon emissions, and reduce the cost of operating offshore wind farms, which all further improve the commercial fundamentals of offshore wind for investors, governments, and corporations,” Rasmus Errboe, CCO and deputy CEO at Ørsted. Also, drones mean less work disturbance as wind turbines do not have to be shut down when cargo is delivered. They also minimise the need for multiple journeys by ship which reduces carbon emissions. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1_95_0_1_2'); }); TagsDenmark Offshore Wind