A subsea engineering company which originally focused on the oil and gas industry has won a major accolade at the Scottish Green Energy Awards hosted by Scottish Renewables.
Aberdeenshire-based Ecosse Subsea Systems(ESS) collected the Engineering Excellence Award for outstanding design at the awards in Edinburgh.
ESS has designed and patented a number of tools which are used in seabed clearance, route preparation, trenching and cable laying operations in the renewables, interconnector and oil and gas sectors.
The SCAR Seabed System has been deployed on a number of UK and European renewables projects, including Westermost Rough, Race Bank and Wikinger offshore wind farms and on cable trenching operations on a major interconnector programme in the Moray Firth. In addition, the system is attracting global interest from further afield in China, Japan and the USA.
Award judges were impressed with SCAR’s capacity to limit disruption to the marine and subsea environment. Its flexibility means it can be launched from a vessel at any time of the year, avoiding sensitive spawning and breeding seasons for marine wildlife.
Other benefits include a higher operational speed which reduces the duration of any potential disruption to wildlife from the presence of vessels, limits the creation of berms which are a snag risk to fishermen, and it can be used across a range of seabed types and soil strengths, which means operators can modify cable or pipeline routes to avoid sensitive habitats or areas of archaeological interest.
ESS technical director, Michael Cowie and managing director Mike Wilson received the award from Scottish Government Minister for the Economy, Keith Brown, MSP, who said: “Scotland is already a world leader in renewable energy with more than 55% of gross electricity consumption coming from renewable sources. It is essential that we continue this progress and I would like to congratulate the Green Energy Award winners for the ingenuity and determination they have shown in developing new products and approaches.”
Michael Cowie added: “We are delighted to win this award which is recognition of years of hard work by a committed team of engineers, designers and support staff at ESS.
“Our company motto is ‘because we think differently’ and this has enabled ESS to successfully bring technologies to the market through engineering excellence with a clear and sustained focus on the environment.”
In 2017, ESS will utilise all of SCAR’s specialist capabilities when the company undertakes route clearance, pre-cut trenching and backfilling operations for a large-scale Interconnector Link, north of Scotland.
ESS continues to invest in engineering Research and Development, including the £3 million design and build of a new SCARJet tool which has the potential to double subsea trench production rates and will introduce additional environmental and performance benefits for clients.