Ørsted and MITAGS form new offshore wind partnership
Ørsted announced a new three-year partnership with the Maritime Institute of Technology & Graduate Studies (MITAGS).
With Ørsted’s support, MITAGS has created a virtual offshore wind farm navigation simulator for mariners. The simulator allows mariners to experience piloting through a commercial-scale offshore wind farm.
The facility, which is located in Linthicum Heights, Maryland will give mariners an opportunity to experience navigating through a virtual simulation of Ørsted’s Ocean Wind and Revolution Wind projects. Ocean Wind will be located 15 miles off the coast of southern New Jersey and is the largest project in Ørsted’s portfolio at 1,100 MW. Revolution Wind is a 704 MW project and will be located approximately 15 miles south of the Rhode Island Coast. Currently, mariners do not have easily accessible opportunities to navigate through commercial-scale offshore wind farms without traveling to Europe.
John O’Keeffe, Head of Marine Affairs at Ørsted, said:
“This innovative partnership with MITAGS has allowed us to enhance how we engage with our maritime stakeholders. The reaction from mariners has been extremely positive and the experience is much more impactful than talking about navigation based on project charts. We’re looking forward to inviting more stakeholders in the coming months.”
Glen Paine, Executive Director of MITAGS, said:
“MITAGS simulation provides a “virtual reality” from the load port out to the offshore wind farms. This greatly enhances safety and efficiency. MITAGS is honored to partner with Ørsted in the advancement of offshore wind energy for the United States.”
MITAGS multiple bridge capabilities allow for up to six full-mission bridges, and six-part task to be integrated in one exercise. The simulation can be viewed remotely, in real time, by stakeholders that cannot travel due to pandemic restrictions.
