Orkney Maritime Support Project

The Orkney Maritime Support Project is a Scottish Government funded scheme, which is being managed through the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC). The main objective of the project is to co-ordinate a programme of experiments to validate the performance of safe and cost effective approaches to maritime support for marine energy projects.

Aquatera initially suggested this scope of work and are now coordinating and managing the project alongside Orcades Marine on EMEC’s behalf.

The outcomes of this project are expected to examine cost reduction in the deployment of maritime energy devices, as well as proving the versatility within high level safety parameters of the fleet.

Appropriate vessels were selected for the shipping trials, with monitoring equipment installed on each vessel and in some cases on the sea floor.

The first set of shipping trials commenced in mid-June and have continued throughout the summer months. All results and findings will be fully disseminated once they have been analysed.

A regular blog featuring vessel trials footage and stills, operations and findings will run throughout the remainder of this project.

Initial footage of boat based and sea bed based ADCP deployment is shown below: