Net Zero Technology Centre awards grant for innovative subsea data technology

Aberdeen-headquartered digital twin technology firm Eserv has secured a six-figure funding grant from the Net Zero Technology Centre to develop a multi-resolution, multi-format asset integrity visualisation system for the subsea energy sector.

The 12-month R&D project will see Eserv building a prototype technology platform that can accept varying formats of subsea data, which can normally only be accessed by individual proprietary systems, and present it in one user-friendly location.

This centralised dataset can then be shared by the asset owners as required, making the data more accessible and collaboration easier.

According to Blair O’ Connor, project manager from Net Zero Technology Centre, the development will allow operators to take full control over their subsea data collection and make sense of the information to empower employees and associated service providers to collaborate in a more efficient way to streamline decisions.

This is also expected to reduce costs and ultimately reduce CO2 emissions through the reduction of offshore deployment of vessels, ROVs, divers and helicopter flights for topside deployed inspection personnel.

”For years valuable subsea information such as videogrammetry, photogrammetry, lidar and sonar data has been siloed within service providers servers, hard drives, and proprietary systems with very little ability for the operator or data owner to easily access, share and collaborate,” said Jeff Hailey, product and development manager at Eserv.

“With the support from Net Zero Technology Centre we are building a secure and data neutral subsea data application that will enable operators to take full control and visibility of their information, provide end users with 3d digital twin insights and transform the information flow to an automated and on-demand approach, removing difficult technical and commercial transactions between competing vendors and systems.”

The Net Zero Technology Centre was created in 2017 as part of the Aberdeen City Region Deal, with £180 million of UK and Scottish government funding to maximise the potential of the North Sea.

The purpose of the centre is to develop and deploy technology to accelerate an affordable net-zero energy industry.