UK’s National Subsea Centre bags grant to develop decommissioning AI-demonstrator

The UK’s National Subsea Centre (NSC) and PlanSea, a spin-out company from Robert Gordon University (RGU), have secured a grant to develop a subsea decommissioning optimization software demonstrator with artificial intelligence (AI) technology.

The partners, which have collaborated for many years to utilize AI to optimize marine logistics, will now deploy the technology and skills developed to address the needs of the subsea decommissioning sector.

Jim Cargill, CEO of PlanSea said: “The AI demonstrator is aimed at addressing both standalone and collaborative campaign optimisation of current and future decommissioning. Additionally, as in marine logistics, we offer a digitalised process for users whilst at the same time enhancing visibility of operational activity.”

According to RGU, the organizations are developing a robust task-based formalization of offshore decommissioning activities that will extend the benefits of PlanSea marine logistics AI in this space. As a result, decision-makers would have the ability to simulate with a high degree of accuracy the cause-effect relationship between different strategies and KPIs of interest.

The project is set to produce an AI tool, fast-tracked for initial trials in the second quarter of 2025.

The grant was awarded by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) in partnership with Scottish Enterprise.

“Our in-depth knowledge of marine operations offers a great opportunity to collaborate with PlanSea to provide operators with substantial savings and reduce emissions. I am confident that this collaborative project will harness our research expertise and PlanSea’s cutting-edge industrial knowledge to deliver a pioneering solution for the energy transition,” said Prof. James Njuguna, NSC Director of Research & Innovation.

The NSC, a center of excellence for subsea research and technology development, was opened at the beginning of 2023 in Aberdeen, with the aim of providing advanced research to accelerate the transition to net zero

This summer, NSC partnered with NOC Innovations, a Southampton-based facility doing innovative marine research, to bring together specialist researchers, engineers, and scientists, forming a community dedicated to addressing marine-related issues.