Viper Innovations: Proud Winners of the Autonomous Dynamic Cable Inspection Competition

Viper Innovations has been selected as the winner of an Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult’s Floating Offshore Wind Centre of Excellence challenge, delivered in partnership with Flotation Energy and Simply Blue Group, to identify autonomous floating offshore wind turbine dynamic cable inspection solutions. The challenge was delivered through the Innovate UK Innovation Exchange (iX) programme.

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The purpose of the competition was to identify innovative solutions for monitoring defects inside dynamic cables on floating offshore wind farms. Viper Innovations’ entry builds upon their record of providing electrical monitoring and asset integrity solutions for a broad range of applications and industries.

Daniel Denning, Viper Innovations Engineering Manager, said: “Our journey through this initiative, part of the iX programme backed by ORE Catapult, highlights the importance of innovation in advancing floating offshore wind technologies. As the UK prepares for the deployment of approximately 1,000 dynamic cables over the next decade, Viper Innovations is proud to be at the forefront of delivering the solutions needed to improve reliability and accelerate the energy transition.

“We look forward to building on this success and continuing to work closely with Flotation Energy and the Floating Offshore Wind Centre of Excellence to support the future of offshore renewable energy – to push Dynamic Cable Condition Monitoring (DCCM) into its next phase, helping the sector overcome the challenges on the dynamic cable.”

Emily Sarveswaran, ORE Catapult Dynamic Cable Strategic Programme Lead at ORE Catapult, said: "At ORE Catapult's Floating Offshore Wind Centre of Excellence, we were pleased to support Viper Innovations through the Innovation Exchange (iX) challenge. As the floating offshore wind sector moves toward commercialisation, condition monitoring of dynamic subsea cables is vital to ensuring long-term asset integrity and reducing operational risk. We look forward to continuing our support for Viper Innovations and the development of their solution."

Viper Innovations’ focus on insulation monitoring, insulation protection, and mechanical condition assessment for dynamic cables was particularly commended as addressing a critical and currently underserved need in the floating offshore wind sector. The winning solution from Viper Innovations, leveraging advanced technologies such as SSTDR and V-LIM, received excellent feedback from the judging panel. They recognised their expertise, the strong suitability of the technology to the challenge, and the innovative adaptation of proven insulation monitoring and reflectometry techniques from other industries, including subsea oil and gas.

Rachel Nicholls-Lee, Flotation Energy Naval Architecture Technical Authority, said: “Flotation Energy was delighted to partner with ORE Catapult in this challenge, supported by Innovate UK’s Innovation Exchange (iX) programme. Innovation in floating offshore wind turbine dynamic cable inspection has many practical applications for floating offshore wind, and we were particularly impressed by Viper Innovations’ suggested solution. We look forward to supporting them as they continue to develop this technology.”

About the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult

ORE Catapult is the UK’s leading innovation centre for offshore renewable energy, established in 2013 by the UK Government as part of a network of Catapults set up by Innovate UK in high growth industries.

Independent and trusted, with a unique combination of world-leading test and demonstration facilities, engineering and research expertise, ORE Catapult convenes the sector, delivering applied research, accelerating technology development, reducing risk and cost and enhancing UK-wide economic growth.

For more information about Viper Innovations, visit: www.viperinnovations.com. To discover more about ORE Catapult, visit: https://ore.catapult.org.uk/

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