Danish Ørsted Conducts First Heavy-Duty Drone Delivery at Dutch Wind Farm

TapTechNews August 8th news, Danish renewable energy giant Ørsted has carried out the actual operation of heavy-duty drone delivery of goods for the first time at the Borssele 1&2 offshore wind farm in the Netherlands.

According to TapTechNews, the heavy-duty drone will be responsible for transporting goods from ships to all 94 turbines in the wind farm. Each drone weighs 70 kilograms (about 154 pounds) and has a wingspan of 2.6 meters (about 8.5 feet), and can carry goods weighing up to 100 kilograms (about 220 pounds). Before this, Ørsted had successfully test-flown a heavy-duty drone at the Hornsea 1 offshore wind farm in the UK last year.

In the operation of this Borssele 1&2 wind farm, Ørsted plans to update some key evacuation and safety equipment of each turbine. Under the traditional way, ships need to sail to each turbine one by one, use a crane to hoist the box with equipment onto the transfer platform, and then use the crane in the nacelle to lift the box to the top of the nacelle and then move it to the top of the turbine.

Now, the heavy-duty drone can fly directly from the offshore supply ship to the top of the turbine. It only takes about 4 minutes, which has a significant improvement in efficiency compared to the traditional method that takes about 6 hours. Considering the transportation time between turbines and to and from the shore for ships, Ørsted said that using drones can increase the operating speed of the Borssele wind farm by 10 to 15 times.

Using heavy-duty drones not only reduces costs and saves time, but also improves operational safety and efficiency. The turbines do not need to be shut down during the goods delivery period, and the personnel risk is also reduced. In addition, the use of drones reduces the voyage of ships, thereby reducing carbon emissions.