Rovco, an innovative provider of underwater ROV and hydrographic services, has announced the launch of a new marine site characterisation business line, specifically aimed at the offshore wind industry. The division will provide offshore energy clients with a range of survey solutions, including hydrographic, geophysical, shallow geotechnical, metocean, and environmental surveys.
Craig Davis, Director of Site Characterisation at Rovco, explained the motivation behind the new business line: “It is widely accepted that the offshore industry is critically undersupplied in terms of available capacity to carry out pre-consenting, pre-construction site characterisation surveys, which are carried out to identify the safest and most efficient location for wind turbines and other infrastructure. This shortfall in capability is likely to become even more acute as new offshore projects get the go-ahead on both sides of the North Sea and the wider Northeast Atlantic.”
The new business line is being spearheaded by the Glomar Supporter, Rovco’s multi-purpose DP2 survey vessel. The Glomar underwent an extensive rebuild and refurbishment in 2021 and has been reconfigured to permanently carry an entire suite of survey sensors and equipment, aimed at providing high-quality data capture, reporting, and technology-enabled solutions for a streamlined and efficient site characterisation offering.
The vessel’s cutting-edge technology will allow Rovco to reduce survey time and provide a more efficient service. Davis elaborated, “By reducing the time required for every project through a more efficient, streamlined approach, Rovco will help ease this bottleneck, creating greater capacity to service the market. Instrumental to this will be the deployment of cutting-edge, disruptive underwater technology combined with world-leading data collection, analysis, and distribution.”
Rovco’s new marine site characterisation business line aims to meet the growing demand for offshore wind energy while delivering a comprehensive range of survey solutions that will help reduce overall survey time and bring significant schedule efficiencies and cost savings to clients. Davis summarized, “Clients are looking for speed, efficiency and the convenience of a one-stop shop solution, where all their survey requirements can be met at the very highest standards by a single contractor.”
