Offshore wind turbine inspection

See how subsea imaging was used to inspect a damaged offshore wind turbine pile following a collision and support preventive maintenance.

Industry: Renewables
Hydro: Hydro 300 | ROV: Falcon | Working depth: 0 to 21 m

Context

Offshore wind farms face a range of subsea risks, from corrosion and scour to cable exposure and accidental impact. In this case, following a collision with a ship, the pile of a wind turbide was damaged and approximately 1.5 m² of the pile required detailed inspection to assess its condition. Regular subsea imaging provides a clear view of submerged structures, helping operators identify damage and potential issues early, support preventive maintenance, extend asset lifetime, and reduce costly unplanned interventions.

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IVM Solution

To assess the condition of the monopile following the collision, operators deployed its Hydro 300 subsea photogrammetry system, integrated onto a Falcon ROV. The objective was to capture detailed and accurate imagery of the approximately 1.5 m² damaged area, providing the data required to generate a reliable 3D model of the impact zone and support subsequent visual and dimensional assessment.

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Despite the relatively small inspection area, the survey required careful mission planning to ensure complete coverage and sufficient image overlap around the damaged surface. The Hydro 300 was operated at a controlled stand-off distance of approximately 0.80 to 1.50 m, with acquisitions performed from two viewing angles, −20° and +20°, to optimize image quality and the photogrammetric reconstruction. The survey was conducted through a combination of vertical and horizontal passes, with both forward and return passes along each survey line to ensure consistent coverage of the inspection area. This acquisition strategy provided the image redundancy required to reconstruct the damaged zone in 3D and obtain a measurement-ready representation of the monopile surface.