Conversion in practice

Hi-tech equipment for the oil sector has been IKM Technology’s bread and butter. But the industry’s commitment to offshore wind power (OWP) is opening new markets for this company.

“We don’t need to reinvent the wheel, but we can repurpose it for other applications,” observes CEO Jostein H Reinsnos at IKM Technology.

Based at Bryne south of Stavanger, his company recently delivered motors to a Dutch client for a subsea trencher. This is now in full swing burying power cables from OWP installations to land somewhere in Europe.

“This machine was originally developed for use on the NCS,” says Reinsnos. “After a little conversion and testing, however, it’s now found a completely new market.”

He provides the following explanation of why his company exists: “The deeper the water, the more the offshore petroleum sector has wanted to eliminate people working subsea.

“That’s been one driver for developing advanced underwater technology. The other, which has become increasingly important, is the desire to cut environmental burdens and energy consumption.”

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The oil industry’s constant need to improve equipment, procedures and methods has prompted it to develop new technology – which Reinsnos says can find applications in many other areas.

Electrical

The bulk of IKM Technology’s revenues derive from electrical subsea equipment, and it became a specialist in this field at an early stage.

“Such solutions require less energy and involve substantially lower CO2 emissions,” Reinsnos explains. “They also pose less risk of environmental harm than hydraulic equipment, which can cause unwelcome oil leaks to the sea.”

He has devoted almost 35 years to working with subsea technology, and has seen how customers increasingly want more environment-friendly equipment.

According to Reinsnos, IKM Technology is the first commercial company in the world to deliver an electrically driven remotely operated vehicle (ROV) which can sit permanently on the seabed.

This is positioned beneath the Snorre B platform in the Norwegian North Sea to do maintenance and repair work as well as to monitor the condition of seabed connections and equipment.

Each of these units has five cameras on its chassis and one on the front-mounted manipulator arm. They transmit information which appears on the big screens in Bryne.

These data include figures and graphs as well as directly transmitted images of swimming fish. Reinsnos describes such ROVs as both caretakers and repair workers under water.

“On land, a company can call in a mechanic or an electrician when something needs to be fixed. Offshore, ROVs do all that. They replace divers and do their jobs in all kinds of weather.”

IKM Technology is building a new and similar control room alongside its existing facility, and may install a third.

Worldwide

The company manufactures and maintains its equipment on the ground floor of the building, and delivers not just in Norway and Europe but worldwide.

On the day I visit, for example, a grey container holds a low-head generator ready for shipment to provide power for an isolated indigenous community in Alaska.

This ranks as the second unit of its kind, following one installed in the summer of 2019. Reinsnos reports that the latter has functioned very well.

Adjacent to the container stands a large yellow buoyancy tank capable of lifting 1.5 tonnes from the seabed in order to replace the use of surface cranes.

A development of one of the company’s own inventions, this device can be used by every industry which does work under water – including fish farming as well as petroleum and OWP.

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Two mechanics are making adjustments to the tank after yesterday’s test in the small pool, which will be followed up with testing in a larger basin before delivery offshore.

Further inside the workshop, an electrician is assembling an earthing box for high-voltage connections. Reinsnos says this was also developed in-house and is sold to all types of customers.

A few metres away, three men are winding electrical motors used to power such subsea equipment as pumps and propellers, and the CEO explains that this must be done by hand.

The production process is completely different from motors for surface use, which can be up to six times larger and call for a lot of cooling.

Several kilometres of cabling in copper and other materials are stored on shelves behind the winders. The company produces 50-70 motors per year and also maintains such devices.

Drones

Another growth business is the development of drones – remotely operated vehicles which can be used both in the air and under water.

IKM Technology already has experience in using machines of this kind on offshore facilities for inspection without the need for rope access technicians.

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Drones are now finding a big market in OWP, reports Øystein Stjern, the divisional vice president responsible for subsea and renewables in the IKM group.

“They’re examples of the way equipment developed for use in the offshore petroleum industry can be transferred directly to the renewable energy sector,” he says.

Reusing solutions both saves money and benefits the environment, Stjern maintains. “Ending up in a technology race where we constantly develop and scrap would be unfortunate.

“Why can’t we instead look at the equipment we already have, combine it with new technology and adapt it to other applications? That would give big savings in investment and operating costs.”