The Carbon Trust's Offshore Wind Accelerator (OWA), on behalf of its offshore wind developer partners, is seeking proposals for a new project investigating the use of shore-based Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) cargo drone operations to support offshore wind operations and maintenance activities.
The project aims to test and validate whether a shared delivery hub can enable efficient cargo drone deliveries directly from shore to offshore wind turbines, reducing reliance on vessels for the transfer of low-weight tools and spare parts. The work will generate practical evidence on the operational feasibility, safety, performance, and business value of this emerging logistics model.
The main objectives of this project are:
- Establish a structured proof of concept for shore-based BVLOS cargo delivery direct to WTGs
- Assess the suitability of maintenance tasks, spare parts, and payload types for drone delivery
- Quantify potential operational benefits, including technician time savings, reduced vessel usage, avoided downtime, and emissions reduction
- Validate the practicality of a shared, cross‑operator delivery hub model, including coordination and operational interfaces
- Generate evidence to support operator decision‑making, future O&M logistics optimisation, and BVLOS regulatory engagement
The expected benefits of this work are to evaluate the feasibility and business case for shared onshore delivery hubs enabling BVLOS cargo drone deliveries directly from shore to WTGs, which could bring benefits to multiple operators.
The deadline for clarification questions is 30 July 2026 at 12:00 PM BST.
Tender closing date: 24 August 2026, 12:00 PM (BST).
Expected project duration: 8 months.
All clarification questions and tender submissions should be sent electronically, by their respective deadlines to arturo.andersen@carbontrust.com and Marcela.Betancur-Diaz@carbontrust.com.
