Thursday, March 28, 2024

Saildrone Selected To Receive A Major Offshore Wind Research Award

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Saildrone has been chosen to receive a significant award from the National Offshore Wind Research and Development Consortium.

The remote vessel company has been selected to work on enhancing the cohabitation of wildlife and offshore wind farms.

The award’s objective is to allow Saildrone to develop a line-of-sight system to detect, monitor, classify and localize marine mammals located in offshore wind production areas. Scientists recognize that while offshore wind is better for the environment, it can interfere with marine mammals due to noise pollution. The noise can interfere with the mammals’ ability to forage for food since many marine mammals use sound to locate their food.

The Saildrone at sea
The Saildrone at sea

Commenting on the award, Saildrone founder and CEO Richard Jenkins said:

“Saildrone is very excited to be working with NOWRDC to help accelerate offshore wind energy development…We have worked hard over recent years to integrate new payloads, such as seafloor mapping sonars, sub-bottom profilers, and passive acoustics, specifically to support the rapid growth of the offshore wind industry. Simultaneously protecting marine mammals while technically supporting offshore wind development with our low-carbon vehicles will be a key accelerator for the industry.”

While Kevin Knobloch, the Executive Director of NOWRDC, stated:

“NOWRDC is excited to award projects that directly respond to challenges in the offshore wind industry…As we approach the deployment of commercial-scale offshore wind in the US, these projects have the potential to provide real solutions to near-term industry challenges—ranging from stakeholder coordination to transmission resiliency. The projects thus offer the opportunity to improve the state of the art in offshore wind development.”

You can check out a video of a Saildrone in the Southern Ocean below.

Saildrone in the Southern Ocean
Sam Helmy
Sam Helmyhttps://www.deeperblue.com
Sam Helmy is a TDI/SDI Instructor Trainer, and PADI Staff and Trimix Instructor. Diving for 28 years, a dive pro for 14, I have traveled extensively chasing my passion for diving. I am passionate about everything diving, with a keen interest in exploration, Sharks and big stuff, Photography and Decompression theory. Diving is definitely the one and only passion that has stayed with me my whole life! Sam is a Staff Writer for DeeperBlue.com

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