Green Marine UK, a provider of marine and subsea services, announce a seven-figure capital investment in the establishment of a new Subsea Services Department, specifically targeting the UK’s rapidly growing offshore wind sector. Supported by financial backing from Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), this expansion includes the acquisition of cutting-edge subsea technology from industry leaders such from Rovtech (Seatronics), Sonardyne, Norbit, Voyis, Tritech, Digital Edge Subsea, EIVA and a range of other sensors.
The Subsea Services Department – expected to officially launch in late Spring – will provide in-house turnkey solutions and data. New services will include GVI (General Visual Inspection), 3D Survey incorporating real time SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) analysis, Marine Site Characterisation, Multibeam, O&M monitoring with a focus on subsea cables, pipelines & offshore structures.
Green Marine estimates the ‘service addressable market’ for subsea O&M services across UK offshore wind to be worth in excess of £270million by 2030. This has been guided by detailed studies produced by OREC (Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult) – the UK’s leading technology innovation and research centre for offshore renewable energy.
Green Marine Managing Director Jason Schofield said the expansion marks a key element of the firm’s strategic growth plan. “Green Marine has built a strong track record over many years with particular success in the offshore wind sector,” he said. “The unique skills and experience we’ve developed during this period have put us in prime position to diversify in line with growing industry demand. While this entails an initial seven-figure capital investment, the longer-term company strategy is to continue investing and expanding way into the future. We benefit from a strategic location in Orkney with the world’s second largest installed offshore wind capacity on our doorstep. This represents a significant growth opportunity for Green Marine UK and a vehicle to drive jobs and business expansion for many years to come.”
A key investment for Green Marine UK’s subsea services department includes Rovtech’s VALOR ROV, recently acquired from Seatronics. The lightweight, portable system has redefined industry benchmarks in data collection and physical intervention. The VALOR ROV’s power and versatility simplifies the integration of state-of-the-art sensors, making it a highly valued tool for modern subsea data collection. Renowned for its capabilities in challenging underwater environments it has huge potential in offshore wind, oil and gas, defence and decommissioning projects.
Green Marine Operations & Technology Director Myles Metson said the expansion follows a companywide ethos to acquire more assets and expand in house operations. “Ultimately, this means we are not reliant on equipment availability or unknown personnel,” he said. “Instead, we offer a single Green Marine Team capable of reacting quickly and consistently to our clients’ requirements. We can ensure rapid mobilisation and reduced overheads during off periods. It also crucially relieves a major headache for our clients when reliant on a multitude of equipment, operators and expertise to deliver complex services.
Mr Metson concluded that this is just one step in the department’s future expansion. “We are already harnessing AI and will be continually developing and training new models to automate, simplify and strengthen the reliability of data collected.”
Green Marine’s project work has spanned across the world’s largest offshore windfarm, Dogger Bank, and the world’s largest floating offshore windfarm, Kincardine. Further projects have involved Moray East in the North Sea, Triton Knoll off the Lincolnshire coast and Greater Gabbard near Suffolk. In addition, Green Marine has supported a number of offshore windfarm sites currently under construction and development, including the Neart Na Gaoithe, West of Orkney, Inch Cape, MachairWind, Caledonia, Muir Mhòr, Pentland, and Salamander.
Chartering its specialist vessels, the firm has provided support with crew transfers, dive operations, surveying and fishery liaison services as well as recovery, maintenance and redeployment of acoustic recording devices, buoys, ACDP (Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers) and FLiDAR devices.
