Noveltis has introduced a weather forecasting solution that provides warnings of rogue waves and strong winds for maritime and offshore operations
EnovOcean is accessed using computers and mobile devices on vessels and ashore for the latest weather and oceanographic information and alerts. Its applications assist in weather routeing, voyage planning, risk management and loss mitigation.
Noveltis uses the most relevant satellite or in-situ buoy data and the latest generation forecasting for this information e-platform for mariners, providing more than 60 indicators to characterise the state of the sea worldwide.
Noveltis head of marketing and sales Hubert Lafont told Riviera Maritime Media enovOcean provides “probability of occurrence of rogue waves and fine-scale meteorological and oceanographic data”. Data includes wave heights, currents, wind strength, ice and extreme weather-oceanic events.
“Unique indicators include steep seas and crossed seas,” said Mr Lafont. “There is comparison between the various models available for wind and waves and comparison of models with buoys and satellite data,” he added.
EnovOcean provides access to a set of risk maps providing information on the severity of sea state conditions, with seven-day forecasts updated every six hours.
Its fine-scale forecasts are produced by Noveltis’ Savas operational system, which was developed with the support of the General Directorate for Armament in France, and validated by the French Navy. It uses wave modelling and wind force parametrisation to produce sea state condition information.
EnovOcean could be used to plan towing operations, protect vessels, infrastructure and people and for decision-making support for marine and offshore operations planning.
Noveltis expects shipping companies to use enovOcean for voyage planning, to select the safest route and avoid extreme conditions and reduce fuel consumption.
In the offshore sector, enovOcean can be used for secure barge transit, selecting safe periods for heavy-lifting and maintenance, for people transfers and reducing weather-related downtime. It can also be used for timely unmanning of mobile drilling rigs in extreme conditions and helideck motion predictions.
There are also applications in marine insurance, for measuring and controlling the risk of accidents, reducing risk to cargo and easy reconstitution of hindcast weather conditions.
User cases
Energy company Total uses daily reports from Noveltis to support its offshore projects with weather information supporting seismic surveys and drilling campaigns.
“Their service brought additional security into the operational command chain,” said Total metocean specialist Philippe Lattes. “They supply the rogue wave data and their ability to forecast such risks.”
In one application, Total was warned of extreme sea conditions and rogue waves offshore South Africa. During drilling operations, the field team encountered two rogue waves of 20-22 m high after being prewarned of the risk of these dangerous waves.
Engie Green uses Noveltis to support the Flottantes du Golfe du Lion (EFGL) floating wind project.
“At the beginning of the EFGL project, we asked Noveltis to produce a metoceanic study that would meet the needs of the engineers, while respecting our requirement for compliance with the norms and standards in force,” said Engie project manager for the environment and site studies Samuel Lemiere.
There is a separate application for offshore renewables that includes tidal information to water depths of 100 m. This can be used for selecting tidal energy sites and for validating current speeds.
Voyage planning and extreme weather avoidance will be discussed during Riviera’s series of webinar weeks and virtual conferences during Q4 2020 and Q1 2021 - use this link to access more details and to register for events
© 2023 Riviera Maritime Media Ltd.