New ROV at All-Energy 2011

A design and development team, led by Jacco Huipen, Fugro's Subsea Engineering and Tooling Manager, has developed a new tracked arrangement for Fugro work class ROVs. The system was designed and manufactured at Fugro's base on Denmore Road in Aberdeen.

Fugro already operates tracked ROVs for inspection. The Rocsi system was developed in Germany a few years ago and was the company's first entry into this market. Rocsi has already seen success offshore as an inspection tracked ROV for cable burial depth and location surveys, but experience showed there was a need for a much more powerful work class system, capable of carrying a comprehensive range of heavy intervention tooling; so the tracked skid evolved, rising to this challenge. The detachable configuration fits below and expands the capability of a normal Fugro work-class ROV, such as the FCV, to make it possible to operate for more realistic periods in extreme tidal currents, like those found on many of the marine tidal sites and wind farms around the UK, and elsewhere in the world.

Jacco Huipen explains: "It was an interesting design project and one which presented the team with a few motivating challenges, such as how to steer a work class ROV in the shallow waters near a beach. The team has come up with a new and novel design which is simple to use, and which adds to the company's capabilities."

At All-Energy the focus will be on services available to the offshore wind sector, which include blade indexing access; gearbox removal and installation; transformer changes; scour protection installation and remediation; scour monitoring studies; and ROV services. Operation and maintenance are equally important to the tidal and wave device sectors, where Fugro's expertise in installation, servicing and decommissioning is relevant.