Driven by increasing demand from the offshore wind industry, as well as its involvement in the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult Launch Academy, Aquatec is set to expand its team by more than 25%. 

"The growth in the offshore wind industry is unprecedented, as is our clients' desire to better understand the performance of their offshore structures and cables and the presence and behaviour of marine mammals in offshore project sites", said Founder and Managing Director Andy Smerdon. "The ability to deploy proven, wireless subsea instruments to monitor fatigue, strain, pressure, temperature and motion on structural components and cables is really driving things forward for us", he continued.

The devices deployed by Aquatec are unique in that they monitor conditions subsea while using powerful edge processing to ensure that only essential information on the state of a component is communicated wirelessly to the surface in order to ruthlessly conserve battery. This results in the ability to monitor subsea conditions long-term, providing urgent status updates when required and allowing engineers to interrogate large datasets when essential.

The growth prospects for Aquatec look promising well into the future. According to the World Economic Forum, the offshore wind industry is expected to undergo a tenfold expansion between 2020 and 2030, driven by decarbonisation efforts and the need for greater energy security. In 2021, Danish multinational power company Ørsted revealed that it was facing a €400 million challenge to repair and replace cables due to the risk of failure. Although this sum was later reduced, it underscores the scale of the industry's challenges. 

Andy Smerdon commented, "By deploying our retrofit wireless technology to monitor the condition of Cable Protection Systems (and therefore cables), we can provide our clients with information on the condition of these components. This data enables better decision-making about whether and when a system must be replaced. In addition, we can improve future CPS and cable designs by understanding conditions that lead to failures."

The positions created within Aquatec are full-time roles across its engineering, research & development and commercial teams. In addition, the business has announced the creation of a Graduate Programme through which the brightest graduates from both technical and commercial disciplines will gain experience in this innovative, growing business.

In 2022 Aquatec was awarded a string of industry accolades for its innovation, including Global Underwater Hub's Global Business Award, American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Best Mechanical Engineering Achievement Award, and Offshore Technology Conference's Spotlight on New Technology Award.

KeyFacts Energy Industry Directory: Aquatec