Repurposing the Polynesian Canoe
BAR Technologies' new breed of crew transfer vessels will reduce the risk of offshore wind turbine technicians turning up too seasick for work. But what new skills will they need when they get there?
As the sight of nearshore wind farms becomes increasingly familiar in UK waters, the supply chain for all lifecycle phases – from development and project management, through build and operations, to decommissioning – continues to grow. But the next generations of wind farms will push further offshore into deeper and more hostile seas. And while the government continues to push for national and international investment in large scale new build offshore wind farm projects, we’ve recently been finding out about some of the young companies and emerging technologies that could soon become key players in the operational supply chains of these new, deep water wind farms.
One such company is BAR Technologies of Portsmouth. The Green Edge took the opportunity the other day to meet its CEO, John Cooper, and to talk a little about the company and its work.
BAR Technologies was formed in 2016 to exploit the design knowledge, technical skills and IP built up through Ben Ainslie Racing’s (BAR’s) involvement in the America’s Cup. The firm occupies part of the building – including the extensive workshop space that forms the building’s heart – which was purpose-built for the BAR team in 2015 on the Camber Dock in Old Portsmouth. The BAR yacht racing team itself (now INEOS Britannia) has since moved out, but BAR Tech remains and now shares the building with a growing community of financial and marine businesses.
John starts by explaining his plans for growing his highly-skilled and multi-disciplinary team, which is aiming to double in size - from 40 to 80 - over the next year. The firm’s list of in-house expertise is impressive and includes naval architects & engineers, fluid dynamists, composite specialists and control, data and simulation engineers. Some members of the team have brought their expertise from high-profile fields like Formula One: John himself was Chief Business Officer at McLaren Racing before joining BAR Tech in 2019.
We talk about some of the company’s current projects, which include a fully electric motor yacht being built by Spirit Yachts in Ipswich and incorporating the foiling technology developed by BAR for the America’s Cup yachts. Another special project, the VICTA 2 diver delivery craft, is both a fast surface boat and a submersible. The first VICTA 2 is being assembled in the workshop below BAR Tech’s office and the project is owned and led by another of the building’s SME tenants, Subsea Craft.
Wings over the water
We move on to talk about WindWings. This is a major development by the firm that supports the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) goals for the shipping industry to reach 50% reduction in GHG’s by 2050. Bringing sails back into shipping is not a new idea, of course, and has already been identified elsewhere as a key net zero enabler. BAR Tech’s implementation of that enabler is foldable vertical wings – WindWings – that lie flat when the vessel is in port but, when deployed, combine with BAR’s route optimisation software to potentially reduce fuel burn by as much as 30%. While the immediate market for WindWings is in retrofitting existing vessels, John envisages a future for the firm as a system integrator for next-gen ships, combining WindWing technology, new hull designs to incorporate sailing characteristics into otherwise brick-like vessels, new electric or hybrid powertrains, and – critically – the control systems to optimise all these components working together.
BAR Tech’s WindWings are being built by Yara Marine Technologies, under a strategic partnership with BAR Tech. John is also keen to point out the significant contribution from Cargill’s Ocean Transportation business who have been a long term partner in this technology. The first retrofit vessel is due this year. The first WindWings will not be built in the UK – Yara Marine is headquartered in Norway with facilities in Sweden and China – but John talks encouragingly about talks he’s had recently in the North East of England, where traditional shipbuilding skills like welding could be repurposed for this exciting new technology.
Raising the bar on crew transfers
Next, we talk about the firm’s other major development sector, crew transfer vessels (CTVs). Here, BAR Technologies has designed the BARTech 30 – a 30m CTV primarily designed for taking technicians out to work on offshore wind turbines – and the BARTech 50, it’s 50m sister aiming to replace helicopter transfers to offshore oil & gas rigs with a new, comfortable, safe and efficient seaborne service.
The first BARTech 30 – which John describes as a high-tech Polynesian canoe – is currently being built at the Diverse Marine yard in Cowes, IoW, just across the water from Portsmouth, for Seacat Services. It will incorporate BAR Tech’s patented Foil Optimisation and Stability System (FOSS), a key spinoff technology from the America’s Cup yachts. FOSS combines active hydrofoil technology with advanced hull hydrodynamic optimisation to provide a vessel that feels more stable and larger than it actually is, with significantly reduced up-and-down acceleration and a decoupling between roll and yaw in heavier seas. Anyone who has suffered from seasickness will immediately appreciate the advantages this will bring. Coupling this benefit with the significant fuel saving of the hull arrangement, this crew transfer vessel will be closely monitored by all operators and OEMs alike.
Now, this raises an interesting skills-related point. While occupational databases like O*NET and (less so) ESCO describe tasks and related skills for wind turbine service technicians reasonably well (see sample below), they do not as yet include the additional sea-going skills and tolerances that could be needed by both technicians and transfer crews as wind farms move further offshore. Meanwhile, the option for wind turbine technicians in the IFaTE Maintenance and Operations Technican apprenticeship standard[1] defines specific wind turbine-related skills, competences and behaviours, but only in general terms. Unlike their counterparts in the oil & gas sector, wind turbine technicians are principally land-based and may be interspersing offshore duties with other onshore gigs. While new vessels like the BARTech CTVs will undoubtedly go a long way towards delivering technicians to the turbines safely and with less risk of sea-sickness, the additional seagoing skills for trips offshore – which in the future are likely to include multi-day routings – must be a consideration. To borrow shamelessly from Rick in Casablanca, maybe not today, but soon and for the rest of their lives.
Source: Blue Mirror Insights, using O*NET v25.2 (Feb 2021) data for Wind Turbine Technicians (O*NET SOC 2019: 49-9081.00)
Our thanks to John Cooper, CEO of BAR Technologies for his time in talking to us for this Green Edge article. Opinions given on skills are entirely The Green Edge’s and may not coincide with John’s own opinions.
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[1] The Green Edge finds it mildly surprising that, given the emphasis the government is putting on offshore wind generation for the UK’s net zero future, there is no dedicated apprenticeship standard for wind turbine technicians.