MEMBER NEWS: Rovco expands fleet with additional site survey vessel

January 24, 2024
MEMBER NEWS: Rovco expands fleet with additional site survey vessel

Rovco, the leading provider of high-technology offshore wind solutions is now adding a second hull mounted survey vessel to its fleet with the long-term charter of the DP2 vessel Glomar Worker. The four-year charter with Glomar comes in response to client demand for innovative geophysical and geotechnical survey solutions.

Rovco is now converting the sister vessel to the already contracted Glomar Supporter, already under long-term charter. After completion of these role specific upgrades, the vessel will launch as a specialised and dedicated geophysical survey asset to serve the offshore wind market.

Rovco’s newest survey vessel will be equipped with a hull mounted gondola and the highest specification sensor package, along with additional stern and starboard A-Frames to allow deployment of specialist towed survey equipment and multi sensor towing. Worker and her sister, Supporter, will now both enable full site data capture with seamless integration across data sets for temporal comparisons. Starlink and VSAT ship to ship and ship to shore communications will permit live streaming for real time decision making and the movement of some roles onshore.

The Worker will also be equipped with an Autonomous Surface Vessel operating as a force multiplier. Further efficiencies will come from its DP2 station keeping capability, which will enable wider working windows across survey and ROV inspections by providing a stable platform for launch and recovery in marginal weather.

Both vessels have permanently mobilized WROVs, enabling the completion of survey and inspection tasks in field, without return to port or the need for additional vessels in field.

These SubSLAM® enabled vehicles provide live, close to asset high resolution, precision 3D reconstructions and fully autonomous inspection capabilities.

Commenting on the impact of the charter, Craig Davis, Director of Site Characterisation at Rovco said: “We are delighted with our Site Characterisation business unit’s year one performance. By bringing the Glomar Worker into the fleet, we’re now able to provide our clients with increased surety in availability, force multiplication to complete projects more quickly and, importantly, offer a consistency in data collection and reporting.”

Expanding on those benefits, Marc Coull, Director of Operations and Maintenance added: “Our objective is to facilitate the offshore wind sector through the development and deployment of automated offshore wind services that aid the engineering, design construction, maintenance and performance of offshore wind farms.”

In summary Brian Allen, CEO, said: “We love this business, and we’re going to make our mark by bringing in great new technology to improve survey data quality and make offshore wind site characterisation way more cost effective”.

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AREG is the original energy transition organisation, working on behalf of members to empower the energy supply chain and champion its expertise. Please get in touch if you have any questions or would like to find out more about membership.

AREG has played an important role in the growth of Scotland’s renewable energy sector, engaging the supply chain and developing the European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre. However, we are only at the very beginning of the transition that AREG was established to both lead and support so there are still opportunities for companies to get into the constantly evolving renewables supply chain. We look forward to continuing our work together as renewables builds on its place as Scotland’s main source of power, and as we seek to deliver real change in the crucial areas of heat and transport.

Scottish Renewables

Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce has worked closely with AREG since its formation. The recent progress in the developments of offshore wind projects by Equinor and Vattenfall are as a result of the work of the group over many years. The north-east is known as the oil and gas capital of Europe. At the Chamber, we believe the region must evolve its position to being recognised as the energy capital. Whilst hydrocarbons will continue to be essential in driving our economy for years to come, the generation of renewable resources will play an increasingly important role in providing cost-effective power, innovative development and economic growth.

Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce

The enthusiasm and dedication of the early group that would become AREG was fundamental in us choosing to launch All-Energy in Aberdeen. The first tiny show was held in 2001, and AREG’s Chairman at the time, Jeremy Cresswell, played such an active role that I often describe him in terms such as All-Energy’s ‘midwife’. All-Energy is now the UK’s largest renewable and low carbon energy exhibition and conference in terms of number of attendees, space booked, and number of exhibiting companies. As AREG became firmly established, their presence and support for the event grew spectacularly over the years. We thank them most sincerely for their invaluable input.

All-Energy

Vattenfall has forged a strong working relationship with AREG through the development of the European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre. AREG has worked tirelessly on behalf of the North East and it can take enormous credit for the growth of sustainable energy in the region and the path it has cleared for the region to capture further investment.

Vattenfall

Aberdeen City and Shire is emerging as a key location for renewables by successfully transferring its world-class oil and gas expertise into the sector and AREG has done much to advance this through a broad range of initiatives. It has acted as a catalyst in driving further investment in the local economy by engaging with companies, Government, public bodies and existing projects and we have been pleased to support their efforts. Scottish Enterprise will continue to engage with AREG as we increase Scotland’s use of renewable energy.

Scottish Enterprise