North Sea Systems and Kongsberg Maritime Ltd have teamed up for the project at an Isle of Wight tidal renewables energy site.
The two companies conducted a passive acoustic monitoring programme located just off Yarmouth, which is regarded as one of the prime locations in the South for potential tidal turbine development programmes.
The project saw a successful deployment of the Kongsberg Passive Acoustic Monitoring System (K-PAMS) to measure underwater noise levels within the location, using North Sea System’s DataFish® device. The acoustic data recorded included, in the absence of any recognisable noise source, background noise levels, as well as noise from passing vessels.
Ben Baker, Commercial Manager of North Sea Systems , commented: “We were delighted to join forces with Kongsberg Maritime on this important project, which allowed us to demonstrate the flexibility of the DataFish® survey device.”
Peter Ward, Kongsberg Maritime Product Manager for K-PAMS, said: “The renewables sector is one of the fastest-growing areas of Kongsberg Maritime’s services portfolio, and we are pleased to have been able to work in partnership with North Sea Systems in this project. The data that has been collected will be critical to the future development of this key tidal energy site.
“Lost equipment, failed deployments and poor quality data in highly energetic environments have plagued tidal turbine and wave energy developers in the marine energy industry in recent times. In bringing together K-PAMS and DataFish® we have created a system that can be safely and accurately deployed, recovered and reliably operated.”
Press release, January 27, 2014; Image: northseasystems