HQ: Aberdeen
Size: >55,000 employees
Director of innovation: Alan Mortimer
Industry: Energy
Offshore renewable energy experience: High
Wood works across a broad range of industrial sectors including upstream, midstream and downstream oil & gas, power & process, environment and infrastructure, clean energy, mining, nuclear, and general industrial sectors.
Offshore wind technology is advancing into deeper, harsher environments, further form shore.
This is placing greater importance on the quality assurance of servicing and maintenance work, human operators’ welfare and communication of data to enable real-time decision making.
It is essential that operations and maintenance continues to become more efficient and that the health and safety of offshore workers continues to improve.
Figure 1: eBioGuard, eInspection and eXpert being used in the field
Wood offers a suite of technologies that support technician connectivity and safety across a number of industries as part of its eWorking brand.
The eWorking Suite currently includes:
Collectively, the technologies allow for an improved experience and safer environment for in-field technicians. Health and safety is improved via constant monitoring of vital health signs by relaying medical-grade data back to the operations room. Real-time trouble-shooting also improves both efficiency and safety, through the use of interactive inspection and communication devices.
The Offshore Wind Innovation Exchange (OWiX), delivered through the Offshore Wind Innovation Hub, launched a competition for solutions to a challenge faced by a major offshore wind operator. The competition called for:
1. A solution for improved efficiency in technician connectivity, and
2. Improved monitoring of the condition and welfare of technicians offshore
OWiX provides challenge setters with the option of anonymity which makes it an ideal platform to discretely find answers to a challenge.
Wood works across a broad range of industrial sectors including upstream, midstream and downstream oil and gas, power and process, environment and infrastructure, clean energy, mining, nuclear, and general industrial sectors.
Wood began using the eWorking Suite series of technologies within its oil and gas business to improve technician safety and efficiency offshore. The results of the eWorking Suite were successful and were publicised internally throughout its business.
Alan Moritmer, the director of innovation at Wood, recognised the opportunity for the eWorking Suite to be repurposed in offshore wind but had not found the traction required to prioritise its development as an offshore wind product. Proving a use case by getting interest from an operator was not a quick and simple thing to achieve.
When Alan saw the OWiX call, he immediately recognised an opportunity to progress his work on the eWorking suite. Alan applied for the challenge, with the aim of fast-tracking the solution, finding an end user to help specify the requirements for a live demonstration of the technology and to help prove an investment case internally.
Selection in the competition would show the industry support he needed and would provide a much stronger source of market validation than if Wood did it alone.
Alan was chosen out of a number of applicants and progressed through the OWiX competition, taking his team to pitch the concept to the operator.
The operator recognised that the eWorking solutions would tackle both challenges in improving technician safety and connectivity. Since the competition close, Wood has worked with the operator and the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult to specify a test protocol and will soon undertake a live demonstration.
The 7MW ORE Catapult Levenmouth offshore wind demonstration wind turbine will be used by Wood and it offers Alan the opportunity to test his solution in front of a customer and receive independent validation of the suitability of the technology from the experienced team of engineers at the ORE Catapult.
“…it [OWiX] gave us a confidence that there was interest from the end user, giving us leverage for internal [product development] funding…and we pushed harder than we would have otherwise”
Alan Mortimer, Wood
OWiX provided Alan with the opportunity to get in front of a customer that had exactly the needs he could answer.
To facilitate demonstration of the eWorking Suite, the operator has committed to in-kind support throughout the trial and is looking forward to the results. Since the competition close, a further two operators have expressed interest in the technology.
Having interest from three potential customers has really supported his internal business case to prioritise demonstration of the technology in offshore wind and it has helped strengthen his product development path.
In addition, the ORE Catapult team undertook a scan of the research ongoing at the ORE Catapult and has connected Wood to highly relevant current research on technician health and safety.
Next, Alan will deliver the live demonstration and prove the case for the eWorking Suite in offshore wind. The technology aims to support next generation offshore wind, contributing to reduced lifetime costs and providing safer working environments for the industry’s offshore workers.
