SUBSEA 2030
>>> At Subsea Expo 2018, you can add your thoughts to the Subsea 2030 project. Subsea UK and its partners the Oil & Gas Technology Centre (OGTC) and Scottish Enterprise will be hosting a range of activities designed to stimulate discussion around the Subsea 2030 vision. Subsea UK News caught up with the team driving this and the reason behind this “crystal ball” activity.
“Just because it’s difficult to predict the future, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try!” said Steve Harrison a
project manager at Scottish Enterprise. Steve is preparing to facilitate what he calls an “Idea Relay”, an online visioning & idea generation activity where industry, academic, entrepreneurial and public agency individuals can share their bold ideas.
“It starts with a series of provocative statements designed to get people thinking the long view,” said
“Statements such as ‘20% of the worlds rare earth metals are mined from beneath the sea bed’ or ‘>30% of the worlds food is sourced and grown in the marine environment’ encourage you to think very differently.
Steve.
“By tricking ourselves into believing that the future has happened, we can start to think about how we got here, putting aside all the reasons why it might
In an Idea Relay, the idea is passed like a baton through the team, nurtured and strengthened as it progresses. “We not happen,” Steve said.
will be sharing the outcomes at Subsea Expo and are inviting people to join us at ‘Perspectives on 2030 – A review from the future’ at an event during the week. As part of the process the participants will be asked to send tweets from the future, follow us at #Subsea2030.”
One such provocative statement is about the North
“the North Sea has a zero carbon footprint and produces all the energy for the UK and Northern Europe” has had Sea. The suggestion that
Chris Pearson & Graeme Rogerson at the Oil & Gas Technology Centre pondering over an Integrated Energy Vision: “Globally the UKCS is in a unique position when considering energy supply and demand.” said Chris, solutions centre manager for small pools at OGTC. “It is home to a vast array of energy sources from Oil & Gas to Offshore Renewables to Subsea Minerals and it is surrounded by an energy demand on all sides. Subsea engineering will play a key role in fully developing the potential for all these energy sectors. “Key to achieving success will be in integrating the challenges faced by the industries and developing a clear ‘UKCS Energy Vision’. How can we best use existing infrastructure, export routes and industry aspirations to develop an integrated energy infrastructure in the UKCS which will deliver on UK energy demands and support the UK’s carbon emissions target?” Chris will be discussing this further with a panel forum at Subsea Expo and welcomes audience involvement. To achieve such a vision would require ever increasing levels of technology. “The Internet of the Ocean means all vehicles, devices and machines are connected, autonomous & intelligent” is one of the challenges that David Lane and his team at The Edinburgh Centre for Robotics (lead partners in the ORCA Hub project) have been working on. David explained: “The long-term industry vision is for a completely autonomous offshore energy field, operated, inspected and maintained from the shore. Significant research progress is anticipated from ORCA Hub in robotic autonomy, mobility, manipulation, sensor processing, autonomous mapping, navigation, multimodal interfaces and human-machine collaboration.
“Our vision is that by 2030, robotics and AI will have revolutionised Asset Integrity Management in the offshore energy sector to enable cheaper, safer and more efficient working practices. ORCA Hub will have
researched, integrated, validated and deployed game changing remote robotic solutions that can operate with existing and future offshore energy assets and sensors, interacting safely in autonomous or semi-autonomous modes in complex and cluttered
Subsea UK News | January 2018
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