DEME Offshore and Sabca have carried out a series of tests at the Rentel offshore wind farm with an aim to automate critical and ad hoc operations in the near future by using autonomous aerial vehicles (AAVs) and artificial intelligence (AI).

The companies, which teamed up two years ago, have performed the first commercial, cross-border, “beyond visual line of sight” (BVLOS) drone operations at the wind farm 35 kilometres off the Belgian coast, where tests in Search & Rescue operations, environmental surveys, turbine and substation inspections, as well as parcel deliveries took place.