Introducing Beam: Automating offshore wind

As CO2 levels continue to rise, up to 1.2 billion people could be displaced from their homes as climate refugees by 2050, but we can still change this future. Since 2016, Rovco and Vaarst have been developing and deploying the fundamental technologies needed to scale offshore wind and ensure that renewable energy is more reliable, efficient and cheaper than oil and gas. Today, I am delighted to share that we are merging Vaarst’s world-class research and development capabilities with Rovco’s deployment expertise under a new company name – Beam.  

Beam brings the technology needed to transform the economics of offshore wind through the robotic automation of offshore wind services. We also bring the realism needed to confront the significant challenges we face head-on; and the optimism needed to make the just transition to renewable energy a reality.  

Tackling climate change often feels like standing at the bottom of a very steep mountain. For the offshore wind industry, that mountain side was made steeper this year when the Global Wind Energy Council projected that the total global offshore wind capacity needs to reach 380 GW by 2030 to align with a net zero by 2050 scenario. Sometimes, the obstacles in our way to achieving this welcome, but ambitious, target feel insurmountable, from supply chain issues and high costs to a looming workforce shortage, to piecemeal and insufficient policymaking.  As we approach capacity targets, wind farm developers can’t afford to shy away from these realities.  

We need to see significant technology advancements that cut costs, shorten project time and improve processes across the entire lifecycle of offshore wind farms if we are to come close to meeting global goals. Whether its surveys for site preparation, critical undersea operational projects, or oil field decommissioning, our combination of AI, rich data and robotics is transforming what’s possible in offshore wind by automating and accelerating processes, bringing immediate time and cost savings.  

Cutting-edge technologies are also a key solution to one of the industry’s most pressing challenges: the workforce shortage. An engineer partnered with artificial intelligence completes exponentially more work than they can alone. Unsupervised autonomy transforms the role of the driver of one vehicle into the caretaker of an autonomous fleet. AI brings first power closer, shifts sea-based jobs to homes and offices, and improves the efficiency of offshore workers and marine assets.  

Through industry-defining R&D and transformative partnerships, Beam is helping to redefine what it means to be an employee of the offshore wind industry; make wind farm development more efficient; reducing risk, complexity and cost; and cure an unsustainable dependence on oil and gas.   

So, it may feel like we’re looking up at an overwhelming challenge now, but when we reach the summit, we will find ourselves in a world rid of its addiction to fossil fuels. And that, we think, is a mountain worth climbing.