Taiwanese offshore geophysical and geotechnical investigation company PDE Offshore has upgraded its underwater acoustic positioning system onboard MV Geo Energy to Sonardyne’s Ranger 2 ultrashort baseline (USBL) system.
The upgrade aims to enhance the company’s capability in the exploration of offshore renewable energy in Taiwan. PDE Offshore’s new geotechnical vessel, Geo Power, also equipped with the Ranger 2 USBL system, is under conversion work and will join the fleet in mid-2024. The vessel is set to provide both seabed and downhole cone penetration testing services.
PDE Offshore has been conducting geotechnical and soil investigation in the shallow waters of the Taiwanese Strait since 2017 as Taiwan looks to replace its coal-based energy with cleaner, sustainable alternatives such as offshore wind farms.
“Taiwan’s ambitions of becoming a green island means it is fast becoming a leading player in offshore wind in Asia Pacific. We’re pleased to be a part this energy transition through PDE Offshore’s continued confidence and investment in our products,” said Dan Tan, regional sales manager for Sonardyne in Singapore.
Working with many offshore renewable energy developers, PDE Offshore wanted to increase its capability. Having already successfully used Sonardyne’s Mini Ranger 2 for several years, PDE Offshore said investing in the full Ranger 2 system was a logical choice to provide the dynamic positioning references essential for their operations while also providing the capability for operating in greater depths and more challenging conditions.
“We have been working with Sonardyne since 2017 using their Mini Ranger 2 system. The system is proven, reliable, and our engineers are familiar with its operation,” said Huang Hsin-chih, president of PDE Offshore. “It was a simple and logical choice to go ahead and upgrade to the Ranger 2 system to improve our capability to take on greater projects in the region.”
Incorporating more than 30 years of USBL knowledge, Sonardyne’s Ranger 2 system can be used to track subsea assets, position or communicate with underwater vehicles, or dynamically position vessels. It can be used for both survey and construction phases of offshore renewable energy projects and supports complex tracking scenarios such as structures and vehicles with multiple transponders and multiple remote offsets.