Case study
Geophysical: Fugro
Customer: Fugro
Project: Electric winch technology for offshore wind geophysical survey
Duration: 14 months
Location: Europe
Key products: STR SeaTow 2000
Lead STR team members: Andrew Wood, Product Sales Manager, Neil Jackson, Regional Director - EMEA and Rob Williamson, Group Products & Technologies Director.
“The SeaTow 2000 winch with Scantrol AHC system has been a great asset for our survey operations. It allows us to quickly and accurately adjust the depth and altitude of our instruments, even in challenging terrain and conditions as well as compensate for vessel motion with the Scantrol integration. This improves the data quality and reduces the need for re-runs, which in turn improves our operational efficiency. The winch is also very reliable and easy to control, thanks to the integration of STR and Scantrol technologies. We are very satisfied with the performance and efficiency of the SeaTow 2000 winch.”
Ben Ayres, Geophysics Technical Group Leader EUAF - Fugro
Project overview
STR supported Fugro with a large geophysical survey project for boulder detection around offshore wind farms across Europe.
By combining our high quality winch technology with our unrivalled research and development capabilities, the STR team was able to provide a highly effective and reliable solution for Fugro, helping the company achieve the following target metrics:
Effective operations down to a depth of 600m using industry standard 11.43mm diameter armoured coaxial cable
Reliable handling of varying payloads, including Edgetech SSS and ROTVs
Increased weather limit from, while retaining data quality, and a large improvement in efficiency when surveying
Integration of the Scantrol AHC system with STR’s SeaTow 2000
An overall saving of vessel downtime
Our solution
By developing an understanding of Fugro’s project and specific requirements, the STR team was able to provide a tailored solution to enhance the company’s geophysical survey project. This involved not only providing our state-of-the-art electric winch technology, but also developing a bespoke solution to enable integration with the customer’s Scantrol AHC system.
High quality electric winch technology
STR’s SeaTow 2000 was selected for this project, as it not only met but exceeded the customer’s requirements. From its low electrical noise (which ensures data quality is not impacted) and low environmental impact due to having no hydraulic fluids, to its minimal maintenance requirements, cable capacity, class-leading interface capability, advanced electronic control system, high torque and mobilisation ready design, this electric winch was recommended as it would provide a highly effective and reliable solution for Fugro’s offshore survey project.
Collaboration to achieve integration
Our research and development team worked closely with both Fugro and Scantrol to create a bespoke integration between STR’s SeaTow 2000 and the Scantrol AHC system. Unlike other winch systems, the STR SeaTow control system allowed the Scantrol system to be integrated to the winch’s digital communications system without physical modification of the winch. The result of this advancement is that the AHC system can now be instantly connected to the remote interface of any STR SeaTow winch, with no requirement for additional customisation and development of the existing hardware.
Unrivalled technical support and expertise
From initial enquiry through to project commencement, we were in discussions with the Fugro team throughout this scope of work, with our highly experienced technical team providing 24/7 support as well as assistance with integration.
Project success
Thanks to our innovative and industry-leading fleet of electric winches, unparalleled research and development capabilities, and highly skilled technical team, we are well equipped to support our customers’ offshore renewables projects and deliver significant cost efficiencies through the utilisation of cleaner subsea equipment, such as our SeaTow winches.
Initial feedback from Fugro is that the trials of the combined system using the SeaTow 2000 and Scantrol AHC system have been successful and are working well to improve data quality, which has been reiterated by Scantrol. Due to a reduction in vessel down time, Fugro is expecting significant ROI to be achieved.
On the back of this, the successful testing taken place during the research and development stages of this project has resulted in the integration of Scantrol AHC system being readily available in all STR’s SeaTow winches, proving a differentiating capability for our range of geophysical survey equipment for future customers. Following the positive outcome of this development, STR is continuing to support Fugro on its other developmental requirements.
