WATCH: Lean-crewed wind farm survey

Approximately 40 kilometres off the coast of Poland between Łeba and Ustka, the wind farm is designed to have a generation capacity of 1.5GW, to be delivered by the end of 2027. 

Baltica 3 will then be installed by the end of 2030, with approximate capacity of 1GW.

Ocean Infinity says it has ’raised the bar’ for the future of marine surveying, used a multi-beam echo sounder and 3D multi-channel ultra-high resolution seismic equipment. This was deployed from an Ocean Infinity Armada lean-crewed vessel over 540 km to identify sub-surface boulders before pinning down the location of Baltica 2’s wind turbine generators and substation.

“A conventional operation like this would require a much larger offshore team, significantly increasing operational risks and costs,” said Sara Andersson, project manager at Ocean Infinity. “Moving operational control from the vessel to the office requires a completely new approach to operational management, coordination and execution. The safe completion of this project with such a lean crew offshore demonstrates our ability to deliver high-quality survey data using innovative technology.”

Key to the project’s success was the use of real-time remote data management. Ørsted and PGE operate on a 24-hour delivery schedule, necessitating data products to be produced within 24 hours of logging off.

“This can pose a challenge even on conventional vessels, where data is logged and processed on the same server,” saysd Ocean Infinity. “With Ocean Infinity’s sophisticated remote data collection system, however, the survey data was accessible to the office based processing team within the same time frame as an offshore team would expect, enabling us to meet Ørsted’s high expectations and deliver according to specification.”