Marine Operations Software to Reduce Costs and Increase Safety

JBA, the Met Office and EMEC to develop Marine Mission Planner for wave and tidal test site operations in Orkney.

The European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) has joined up with environmental engineering consultancy JBA Consulting and metocean scientists at the Met Office to develop software which could revolutionize operational planning at EMEC’s wave and tidal test sites in Orkney as well as other marine renewables developments.

The system will be based on JBA’s ForeCoast® Marine Mission Planner – an advanced forecasting and decision support tool designed to help guide vessel operations days, weeks and months ahead. This software will incorporate the vast amount of operations and maintenance (O&M) data and resource models from EMEC’s test sites to create a bespoke system to manage marine operations in Orkney waters.

Marine operations at the EMEC test site.
Image: Mike Brookes, Roper

The Met Office operates and develops, in collaboration with science partners, a range of operational analysis and forecasting systems. The ForeCoast® Marine Mission Planner will utilize Met Office ensemble forecast data to determine the probability of mission viability, rather than base these predictions on one forecast of the future, or a simple go/no go approach. This novel approach will provide greater confidence and consistent risk based decision making.

A range of algorithms will analyze EMEC’s data against the ensemble forecast data to determine whether the forecasted metocean conditions are likely to exceed the safe operating tolerances of the mission based on a breakdown of all mission components (e.g. lifting at port, steaming to site, operations at site, and return journey).

A pioneering ‘Gamer Mode’ will be used to optimize O&M decision making by exploring how different strategies would have performed if they had been used historically.

Ultimately, the system aims to reduce O&M costs for marine energy technology developers, by helping optimize O&M strategies resulting in fewer failed maintenance missions.

“Given the complex nature of the marine activities at EMEC, it is essential that robust planning strategies are in place to ensure that the costs to EMEC and our clients are minimized and that the highest standards of health and safety are met,” said Stuart Baird, Operations Director at EMEC.

“This software has great potential to reduce costs for technology developers, improve the safety of marine operations, and provide a best practice model for other marine energy sites across the globe.”

Mark Lawless, Director, JBA Consulting added:
“Combining JBA’s innovative Marine Mission Planner with the Met Office’s ensemble forecast data and EMEC’s operational data and expertise will enable the development of a very exciting, and more importantly useful, piece of software that I’m confident will prove indispensable in the future planning of marine activities across EMEC’s test sites in Orkney and around the world.”