Marine Drones - New Autonomous Vessel Could Take Up Guard Duty

[StoneCrab]

New Autonomous Vessel Could Take Up Duty Guarding Offshore Wind Farms

http://https://www.maritime-executiv...ore-wind-farms

This article describes how "a group of technology companies and researchers released a concept design for a new autonomous guard vessel for offshore installations like wind farms. Manned guard vessels pose several operational challenges, including the cost and the dull nature of the task, which makes it difficult to recruit and retain qualified mariners.

The consortium - C-Job Naval Architects, LISA Community, Seazip Offshore Service, Sea Machines, MARIN and eL-Tec Elektrotechnologie - have proposed an autonomous, battery-electric design that would reduce the size and cost of the guard vessel platform."

How would you like to be cruising along and escorted out of the area by an unmanned vessel. They didn't say what kind of teeth they will be putting on this autonomous guard vessel.

[Nicholson58]

Wind farms are difficult to maintain on shore. Offshore, add in the cost of the infrastructure in commercial ports, ships and specialized equipment and trained people and the damage inflicted by salt and these things are a net negative. They are a hazard to navigation and targets for terrorists. As you note, they require constant policing. This is expensive and places everyone involved at higher risk. I worked for several years building the remanufacturing facilities for failed wind machines. (chief Engineer) If you back out all of the subsidies and tax write offs and creative book keeping the machines on shore never return in their real (not advertised) lifetime the BTUs required to build and operate them. The offshore machines are far worse. If you want real Carbon reduction build nukes.

By the way, cruised past the wind farm on the west end of Puerto Rico last year following the hurricane. They are totally destroyed. PR would have been far ahead to have installed conventional generation, getting more power for less and that could have survived the storm. This wind farm existed on free money and virtue signaling.