We look into the increasing importance of geophysical and geotechnical pre surveys in the offshore wind market. MMT is a Marine survey company that is leading the way in this specialist area.
PES: Welcome back to PES Wind magazine. Thanks for talking with us. For the benefit of our new readers would you like to begin by explaining a little about the background of MMT and the importance of the wind industry to you?
Nils Ingvarson and Ola Arvidslund: MMT is a Marine survey company that has been around for over 40 years and for the past 25 years we have grown from a one boat company to a large fleet of operational platforms performing various type of survey operations to the Renewable, marine cable and Oil and gas sector. As for Offshore wind farms, MMT started with the geophysical and geotechnical pre surveys in the late 90s mainly in Danish and Swedish sectors. We have since then increased our operations and extended them to also perform these type of surveys in the UK and Germany primarily. During 2008 to 2010 the increased awareness of UXO (Unexploded Ordnance) made the UXO survey a requirement for these surveys. The UXO survey has also a phase with inspection and excavation to identify any magnetic and acoustic target picked up during the survey. This has also added to the volume of work and also required the use of larger Offshore vessels with Work class ROV capabilities.
This has for the past 6 years been in line with the platforms used by MMT and therefore is a one of the major segments that MMT is operating in.
PES: We see that offshore wind is experiencing continued growth in the market, is this having a knock on effect on MMT?
NI & OA: Well we see that the need and possibility to continue to develop the survey methods used for Offshore wind farm surveys still is relevant to pursue. We see that the market increase regionally as well and we see an increase in the global efforts to pursue power from Offshore wind farms.
PES: How have the HSE regulations changed and what impact has this had on you and in turn your customers?
