Seiche Ltd works with Ørsted during construction of its Hornsea Two offshore wind farm

As well-respected specialists in the field of marine mammal monitoring and mitigation measures, Seiche Ltd was engaged by Ørsted earlier this year to minimise the impact on marine mammals during construction of its Hornsea Two wind farm, located 89km off the UK’s North East coast. This was a key requirement of the wind farm’s marine licence conditions.

Marine Mammal Observers worked from the installation vessel to ensure that marine mammals were protected during the installation of the Offshore Substation (OSS), Reactive Compensation Station (RCS) (September to October 2020) and the Wind Turbine Generators (WTG’s) (October 2020 – October 2021). To achieve this, Seiche provided an Acoustic Deterrent Device (ADD) and marine mammal observers / ADD operators. Extensive reporting was carried out throughout the project.

Project Manager at Seiche, Jennifer Shearing comments:  “It was exciting working with Ørsted on such an important and well-organised project. Ørsted’s enthusiasm towards protecting the marine environment was a pleasure to see. The project was such a success, it finished ahead of time, and Seiche is thankful to the fantastic marine mammal mitigation team we had in the field. Their commitment and hard work ensured the project ran smoothly. Communications with DEME, the installation contractor, were excellent, resulting in efficient, well organised crew changes.”

Jennifer Brack, Consent Manager for Ørsted’s Hornsea Two Offshore Wind Farm said: “As experts in their field, Seiche were a pleasure to work with. Their work was well-organised, well-communicated, and fulfilled all our requirements in terms of protecting mammals in the marine environment while construction took place”. 

About Hornsea Two:

Located approximately 89 km off the Yorkshire coast, Hornsea Two is the world’s largest offshore wind farm and will generate up to 1.4GW of clean energy for UK households when fully operational in 2022.  

Image: © Steven Atkinson, Lead Marine Mammal Consultant, 2021

Seiche Ltd Undertakes Underwater Acoustic Field Verification Survey and Marine Mammal Mitigation in Northern Spain for ACSM

Seiche Ltd were selected by ACSM earlier this year to provide pre-survey modelling, underwater acoustic verification for two pieces of equipment (Sparker and SBP) to verify how they would affect marine mammals in the area along with continuous Acoustic and Visual Marine Mammal Mitigation services.

Seiche Ltd is a global leader in passive acoustic monitoring technology and marine mitigation and boasts  significant expertise in the field of maritime environmental monitoring. Their experience of providing environmental support for offshore surveys combined with their monitoring, mitigation and technological development credentials made them the ideal project partner for this work.

ACSM is a global leading provider of subsea services with 20 years of expertise within the offshore energy industry. They deliver a whole range of offshore services, from fleet and personnel management to ROV Inspections and Surveys throughout the life-cycle of a subsea asset: from pre-engineering assessment, through construction and installation, IMR to decommissioning. A key speciality is the provision of subsea services and solutions to the Oil & Gas, submarine cables and renewables markets.

This project represented a full cycle of environmental support for an offshore survey – from the pre-survey modelling done in-house with the team of our acoustic scientists, through acoustic field verification with Seiche bespoke equipment, survey design by our BioScience’s team to full marine mammal mitigation scope with our consultant MMOs and PAM operators and in-house build PAM system designed to acoustically detect various species of resident marine mammals. 

“This was a great project for us. We showcased our extensive range of capabilities including a pre-survey modelling including estimation of the marine mammal impact ranges for the specific equipment used, the in-field measurements to verify this model
model predictions with our bespoke PAM buoy equipment and the full marine mammal mitigation support during the survey with our consultant MMOs and PAM operators and effective PAM system .”

Amanda Hyam, Associate Director Environmental Services

Image Credit: © 2021 OSV Nautilus at sea. Courtesy of ASCM.

Seiche Ltd and Deep Vision Inc. Announce Collaboration to Develop Real-time Camera System for Automated Detection, Geo-location and Quantification of Marine Mammals

Seiche Ltd and Deep Vision Inc. have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish a collaborative relationship in support of their respective business interests.

Seiche has expertise in the field of maritime environmental monitoring; in particular, Seiche has developed a unique camera system, as implemented in their Mini Dual Camera, that has been specifically designed to aid the observation and monitoring of marine mammals (and other surface, and near surface objects).

Deep Vision has expertise in the field of computer vision and unsupervised machine learning; in particular, Deep Vision has developed a highly advanced, unique, passive EO/IR technology that provides robust, real-time detection and tracking of marine mammals, vessels and other maritime assets on, or near, the surface of the water.

Under this MoU, the two companies will advance collaborative efforts to develop a real-time camera-based system that can automatically detect, geo-locate, and quantify the presence of marine mammals and other maritime assets. The system will be resilient under all weather conditions and operable at both surface level and above, e.g. mast mounted for ships. By leveraging state-of-the-art unsupervised machine learning techniques, the system will be truly autonomous.

Both Seiche and Deep Vision have strongly aligned environmentally focused business goals and feel that this partnership will be mutually beneficial both for their respective organisations and for their key stakeholders.

Mark Burnett, CEO of Seiche Ltd, comments:  “We are excited to be working with Deep Vision and their cutting-edge technologies,  particularly their software capabilities that can rapidly assess changes in the environment and automatically tune detection algorithms to optimise performance.  Our Seiche camera systems are currently providing environmental monitoring to clients around the world and this is an important next step in the provision of this technology to further protect marine life.”

Alan Parslow, CEO, Deep Vision, adds: “We are thrilled to be working with Seiche, one of the most respected and forward-looking environmental monitoring companies on the planet. We are confident that the proposed system, once realised, will become a significant tool in protecting marine life. We are certain that such a tool is crucial for the ultimate survival of the North Atlantic right whale.”  

Image: North Atlantic Right Whale – Courtesy of NOAA Photo Library.

Industry Leader Interview with our Associate Director, Nicola Harris

As we celebrate UK Wind Week 2020, please can you tell us a little about your own experience within the ever-evolving renewables sector?

I’ve been involved with the renewables sector for 13 years now which is almost my entire onshore career – it’s played a big part in my professional development. 

One of the very first projects I managed was the marine mammal mitigation workscope for Thanet Offshore Wind Farm and since then I have been lucky enough to work on a number of the key European Offshore Wind farms – it has been exciting to see these projects grow in terms.  

It has also been exciting to be able to take this experience to new areas of the world and work with developers to apply these lessons to a new set of logistical and regulatory requirements – I’ve been fortunate enough to work in the US, SE Asia and Australia.  

My experience lies in providing marine mammal baseline surveys and noise assessment during planning and consenting and providing marine mammal mitigation and noise verification works during construction which is exciting as we get to be there in the early stages and again when the project becomes a reality in the water. This is also an area that has developed massively as we have learned about the impacts of these developments on marine life and as science and technology has developed with the industry.  

To date, what has been your most interesting renewables project that you have worked on and why?

It’s really hard to pick just one project as each and every project is so different and comes with its own set of challenges and we have learned something new on each and every project. 

Thanet as my first was a massive learning curve as my first renewables project and designing the mitigation strategy in the early days prior to any standard mitigation plans being done prior to this was an exciting phase to be involved in. 

Teesside was also a great project as I got to be involved with a number of monitoring scopes including land noise, ornithology, underwater noise as well as marine mammals. 

As we move further offshore the challenges increase which for me is exciting – I was fortunate enough to work on the baseline survey for marine mammal and birds on Dogger Bank site which ran for about a year and a half and at the time was the largest survey activity of its kind and yielded an enormous data set for the environmental assessment works.  

Over in the US I’ve been managing mitigation scopes for characterisation surveys across the East Coast and it’s been really interesting to apply the lessons we have learned in Europe to a new set of logistics and sensitivities and work with new regulators and stakeholders.

And of course, this year has brought its own set of challenges as COVID hit in the early stages of the construction phase of Triton Knoll which meant adapting, new procedures and a whole host of contingency measures but I am pleased to say thanks to the incredible teamwork from our client, the contractors and team we didn’t have any delay or have to make any compromise to safety or the environment.

In your opinion, which areas within the renewables sector have the most opportunities in terms of growth in the coming years?

I think the whole sector and across all supply chains will see huge opportunities, especially offshore wind which is going to continue to see massive growth.  The offshore renewables sector is playing a pivotal role in combating climate change with governments across the world setting ambitious targets in terms of capacity and economic growth. 

It’s been incredible to be part of a new industry in Europe which still makes up three-quarters of the worlds installed offshore wind however I see this very quickly tipping as many new regions are poised for massive developments in this decade. 

These areas are now benefiting from the lessons learned, established supply chains and knowledge from Europe enabling much faster progress to commissioning.

What advice would you give to individuals who are considering a career within the renewables sector?

Definitely get involved! This is an industry that offers so much career development and diversity in roles and progression, it’s really exciting.  It’s also a really personable industry where novel techniques and developments are really welcomed and supported. 

My biggest advice is build relationships as these are key – I have met and worked with so many incredible people during the past 13 years and have learnt so much from all of them.  People move between developments and projects and I love that people I worked with 10 years ago I get to work with again on a new project.   

And from an environmental perspective, I am really proud to be involved in this green sustainable industry which is playing a huge part in achieving net zero and combating climate change.

AutoNaut USV accompanies The Ocean Cleanup in the Pacific Ocean

An AutoNaut unmanned surface vessel (USV) has been launched alongside the revolutionary system of The Ocean Cleanup, the non-profit organisation deploying advanced technologies to rid the world’s oceans of plastic. The Ocean Cleanup System 001, also known as “Wilson”, is undergoing extensive sea trials approximately 350 nautical miles from San Francisco, to test the behaviour of the system. If all goes well, it will relocate to the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” (GPGP) where it will begin the challenge of removing tonnes of plastic debris. The role of the AutoNaut USV is to conduct long-term monitoring of the surrounding environmental conditions and provide information on “Wilson” itself.

The AutoNaut USV is operating directly alongside The Ocean Cleanup’s at-sea garbage-collection system. The small autonomous craft is overseen remotely by an operator at sea and a small team based on the south coast of England. Cameras on the AutoNaut’s mast and hull provide a live-feed view of “Wilson” both from above and below the sea surface. Onboard sensors provide a scientific understanding of the environment by measuring the sea surface waves, oceanic currents, water quality and weather conditions.

A send-off from San Francisco was seen live by viewers around the world who watched the Maersk Launcher tow The Ocean Cleanup “Wilson”, with AutoNaut on deck, under the Golden Gate Bridge. The next stage after this first two-week trial is to re-locate further offshore to the GPGP where the aim of the project is to remove 50% of ocean plastics every 5 years.

“We are thrilled to be playing a role in Boyan Slat’s vision” said Phil Johnston, BD at AutoNaut, “The AutoNaut uses only wave-power for propulsion and solar energy for sensors – so these are two very elegant, renewably-powered systems working together for an environmental cause.”

 

 

The Ocean Cleanup – countdown to launch!

On September 8, The Ocean Cleanup will launch the world’s first ocean cleanup system from its assembly yard in Alameda, through the San Francisco Bay, toward the infamous Great Pacific Garbage Patch. To celebrate this historic moment, you can watch the deployment live. The livestream will be available, starting at noon PDT/3 pm EDT/9 pm CEST. CLICK HERE.

Seiche is Official Partner for The Ocean Cleanup

The Ocean Cleanup announces Seiche Water Technology Group with AutoNaut as its Official Partner for Environmental Mitigation Technologies.

Today, SWTG confirms it will be providing an AutoNaut unmanned surface vessel and a suite of mitigation technologies to monitor and help ensure the protection of marine-life during the first-ever deployment of an ocean clean-up system by the Dutch non-profit The Ocean Cleanup. Seiche systems for passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) will be deployed to detect and track whales and dolphins. Hydrophones deployed via PAM buoys will be installed and operated by Seiche personnel. Assistance will also be provided by SWTG to ensure that the highest environmental standards are met throughout.

The Ocean Cleanup develops advanced technologies to rid the world’s oceans of plastic. A full-scale deployment of the TOC systems is estimated to clean up 50% of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in 5 years. The first cleanup system is set to be deployed mid 2018.

Mark Burnett, COO of SWTG, said: “We are extremely proud to be supporting this fantastic initiative to tackle the problem of marine litter. There is a strong ethic of environmental responsibility here at Seiche and it’s a real honour to be working with Boyan Slat and his team to minimise any negative impact on the ocean of the TOC system.”

A SWTG AutoNaut unmanned surface vessel (USV) will work alongside TOC’s revolutionary “barrier” system to provide environmental information on ocean currents, water quality, meteorology and wave height/direction. Cameras on the AutoNaut’s mast and hull will provide a live-feed view both above and below the sea surface. The aim is to provide long-term autonomous monitoring of The Ocean Cleanup’s at-sea garbage-collection system.

“This is a wonderful match of technologies” said Phil Johnston, BD at AutoNaut, “the AutoNaut will accompany The Ocean Cleanup using only wave-power for propulsion and solar energy for sensors. So, these are two very elegant, renewably-powered systems working together for an environmental cause.”

The AutoNaut and suite of PAM mitigation systems will be delivered this summer for The Ocean CleanUp’s first mission in the Pacific Ocean off California.

For an overview of the Ocean Cleanup system please view the following link:
https://youtu.be/PePvbhy-qGY

Boris Johnson admires the AutoNaut USV

Boris Johnson admiring one of our new generation 5-metre boats at the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton today. Pete Bromley, our Technical Manager, was on hand to meet and greet the Foreign Secretary during a demonstration of autonomous marine technology.