An entrepreneur has a boat to do the research—but will Congress put the policies in place?
Seeing U.S. renewable energy setting to sea, Alpine Ocean Seismic Surveys seized the emerging opportunity.
Using leased third-party vessels, Alpine did the sea floor surveying for the meteorological tower installed by Fishermen's Energy in preparation for a wind project off New Jersey's Atlantic City coast. The survey taught Alpine much about what a dedicated, full-service research vessel needs.
The Shearwater, due to officially launch June 22, has a low-noise hydraulic propulsion system that gives it advanced maneuverability and allows for dynamic positioning. Mecarini called it "a very steerable boat." The steering system can be operated from a wireless box, allowing the captain to move to where he can best observe and modify his efforts.
The vessel has dedicated labs and office space, redundant generators, a desalination system, sleeps twenty, allows round-the-clock crewing and is capable of operating autonomously at sea for up to fourteen days.
Digital communications and computing within the labs and offices allow research teams to plug-and-play. Networks allow data processing and sharing, facilitating ongoing review of collected and collated data. The comprehensive capabilities allow for simultaneous or sequential surveys.
Running underneath the Shearwater's hull are cylindrical tubes in which sound equipment used to map the sea floor and monitor the marine environment is pre-fitted and able to be repositioned as the vessel moves and needs change. Multiple echosounders, streamers, magnetometers, gradiometers and sonar scanners serve hydrography and geophysics.
Water sampling, turbidity monitoring, grabbers, high-powered corers and drop-down cameras serve benthic, oceanographic and geotechnical studies. Specifically selected and mounted lifting equipment (a two-ton crane, one- and five-ton A-frames, a five-ton geotechnical winch and other dedicated winches) facilitate data gathering.
The cost for the use of Shearwater's comprehensive facilities, Mecarini said, will range in very broad numbers from $7,000 to $8,000 for a 12-hour day to $8,000 to $9,500 for 24-hours-per-day operations.
Ultimately, the U.S. ocean energy industries will need a fleet of such vessels to provide services that begin with the mapping of the seabed and end with the decommissioning of out-of-date and damaged equipment. Other services that will be needed include the performance of all environmental studies, including the pre-monitoring of impacts on the ocean's flora and fauna such as crustaceans, marine mammals and avian life, the transport and erection of turbines and wave, tidal and current energy devices, and the transport of maintenance and emergency crews.
The Shearwater's maiden undertakings for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection won it praise. Though non-disclosure agreements prevented him from naming names, Mecarini said Alpine is now engaged in talks about other offshore wind and hydrokinetic projects and subsea transmission lines. It was reasonable to assume, he agreed, that Netherlands-based Fugro, which Mecarini said is probably Alpine's chief competition, is similarly engaged.
From working with Fishermen's Energy, Mecarini observed firsthand the difference between negotiating the federal permitting process -- as demonstrated by Cape Wind's just-completed nine-year approvals ordeal -- and the simpler, more streamlined New Jersey state permitting process, through which the Fishermen's Energy project has almost worked its way.