EnergyOMNI's Perspectives I Application of Drones in Offshore Wind Farms

Edited by EnergyOMNI

Drones Delivering Cargo to Offshore Wind Farms

Ørsted recently announced the use of FlyingBasket drones to deliver safety evacuation equipment to its Hornsea offshore wind farm, located 120 kilometers off the coast of the UK. According to Ørsted's press release, the cargo drone weighs 58 kilograms, has a wingspan of 2.6 meters, and can carry payloads of up to 68 kilograms. Since testing began in October 2023, Ørsted has completed more than 550 flights, servicing over 400 turbines.

The advantages of using drones for deliveries include cost reduction, lower carbon emissions, and improved safety and efficiency. Ørsted noted that in the past, transporting a single box required three personnel and forced the turbine to shut down for six hours. With drones, delivery takes only five minutes, with up to 30 boxes transported per day, all without stopping the turbine. This reduces operational disruption, lowers the risks of sending personnel offshore, and decreases vessel traffic to and from the wind farm, thereby helping reduce carbon emissions.

Ørsted is not the only developer adopting drone-based deliveries. In 2023, the German Aerospace Center (DLR) tested logistics with the small unmanned helicopter superARTIS at EnBW's onshore wind farm in Germany. In June 2024, the two parties expanded their collaboration by organizing the Offshore Drone Challenge, in which seven drone manufacturers participated to test logistics delivery technologies for offshore wind operations and maintenance. In February this year, Swedish energy company Vattenfall also tested drone deliveries at its DanTysk and Sandbank offshore wind farms in the German North Sea, transporting equipment from service operation vessels to turbines. Vattenfall highlighted that for nearshore wind farms, spare parts could be delivered directly from service centers, even under adverse weather conditions.

Vattenfall and Iberdrola Using Drones for Turbine Inspections

In addition to logistics services, Vattenfall is exploring the integration of drones with artificial intelligence for turbine blade inspections. Through its support of the Dutch AIRTuB-ROMI project (Automated Inspection and Repair of wind Turbine Blades – Resident Offshore Monitoring & Inspection), Vattenfall is developing a blade sensing system. When sensors detect anomalies, AI first predicts possible damage and its location. Drones then perform further inspections by capturing high-resolution images of the blade from multiple angles before landing on it to conduct ultrasonic scans of potentially damaged areas, assisting maintenance teams in repair planning.

Spanish energy company Iberdrola has been actively advancing drone inspection technology since 2013. Using Arachnocopter equipped with high-resolution cameras and other sensors, Iberdrola generates internal "X-ray" images of turbine blades to detect structural issues. The company reported that since 2018, drones have been deployed for onshore turbine blade inspections. Beginning in 2021, drones were also used to analyze critical structural components of offshore turbines, with their first offshore application at the East Anglia ONE wind farm off the UK coast.