France - Geological, geophysical and other scientific prospecting services - Marine survey by unmanned or autonomous vehicles

RTE, the French electricity transmission system operator, is responsible for developing, building and operating high-voltage submarine links for interconnection with neighbouring countries, or for connecting offshore wind farms to the terrestrial transmission grid. RTE currently operates a wide range of submarine cables on the Manche Channel, Atlantic and Mediterranean facades. In the future, the number of cables shall further increase with the development of HVDC long distance links to offshore wind farms. These cables can be floating or laid on the sea floor. In this context, RTE carries out regular submarine data collection campaigns during the design, construction, and operational maintenance phases of its assets. These campaigns may include bathymetric surveys, geophysical soundings, UXO findings, optical monitoring of structures or environmental monitoring and measurements. Currently carried out by conventional means (surface vessels or on foot at landfall), these investigations could in the future be carried out by autonomous or remotely-controlled robots/vehicles. In addition to reducing costs, the expected benefits include operational efficiency, reduced risk for personnel, and a smaller environmental footprint for operations, as well as the accuracy of the data collected. RTE would like to investigate on innovative autonomous or remote solutions applicable to its scope of service for cables, particularly AUVs (Autonomous Underwater Vehicles), USVs (Unmanned Surface Sehicles) or flying vehicle, which can renew conventional approaches to data acquisition in the marine environment. Hence this inquiry aims to solicit the market to have its various actors emerge and help RTE identify them. It shall also allow the market to clarify its capacity of service with respect to RTE inquiry and propose adapted and robust solutions. This notice is aimed at companies capable of offering a service, covering either: unmanned or autonomous vehicles supply, unmanned or autonomous vehicles deployment, data acquisition and interpretation of results. The deployment sites envisaged are located offshore and on the shores of mainland France: in the English Channel, on the Atlantic coast and in the Mediterranean. At this stage of its inquiry, RTE is interested in companies capable to offer only part of the above listed services as well as turnkey player, i.e. capable of performing the full scope.