RWE has completed more than 80 successful cargo drone flights at two German offshore wind farms, marking a step forward for offshore logistics.
In trials at Nordsee Ost in the North Sea and Arkona in the Baltic Sea, RWE and partners demonstrated both long range autonomous deliveries and short hop ship to turbine drops for spare parts, tools and medical supplies.
Autonomous long distance flights took off from Mukran Port on Rügen and flew over 40 kilometres to the Arkona wind farm with payloads of up to 10 kilograms.
The aircraft approached a target turbine, aligned with the nacelle and performed an automated drop before returning to port.
These beyond visual line of sight flights, flown under full regulatory compliance and supervised by Skyports pilots, typically halved transit time compared to crew transfer vessels, with drone journeys completing in under 30 minutes.
The platform in use is now capable of carrying up to 100 kilograms.
RWE estimates saving at least 1.5 hours per turbine visit by pre delivering parts to the nacelle, reducing long lifting operations, vessel fuel burn and technician workload.
A medical emergency simulation also succeeded in delivering supplies to the nacelle, highlighting potential for critical response.
RWE says the next phase will focus on scaling routine use, integrating drone drops alongside vessels and helicopters to improve uptime, safety and cost.
RWE pioneers offshore cargo drone operations with 80 successful flights appeared first on Energy Live News.