A surprising transportation method is optimizing how companies move heavy-duty materials to offshore wind farms, according to a recent article published in Electrek.
Ørsted, a Danish renewable energy company, has begun a new operational campaign. The company will deploy heavy-lift cargo drones to a Dutch offshore wind farm in an effort to reduce the time it takes to transport cargo to offshore wind turbines.
Per reports by Electrek, the heavy-lift cargo drone can transport cargo weighing up to 220 pounds. For this new optional campaign, Ørsted will transport materials from a vessel to all 94 wind turbines located at the 752-megawatt Borssele 1 & 2 offshore wind farm.
Ørsted will also be updating the evacuation and safety equipment for all its wind turbines.
Before the use of heavy-lift cargo drones, a large vessel would sail to each wind turbine, transporting equipment boxes onto the transition piece with a crane. Then, the box would be lifted two more times until reaching the top of the turbine.
The heavy-lift cargo drone eliminates the need for the cranes, flying back and forth from the supply vessel to the top of the turbine. This new process is not only more efficient but also much faster.
It only takes the cargo drone four minutes to fly from the supply vessel to the top of the turbine — a drastic improvement compared to the original transport method, which typically took six hours.
As a result, Ørsted told Electrek it's been able to transport cargo at Borssele 10-15 times faster than normal thanks to the heavy-lift cargo drones.
Optimizing offshore wind farms is a step toward a more sustainable future. As wind energy becomes more efficient, more companies will be encouraged to make the switch and help reduce the total amount of global pollution.
"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," Chief Commercial Officer and Deputy CEO at Ørsted Rasmus Errboe told Electrek.
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