BREMEN, GERMANY – 30 JANUARY 2018 /Marketwired/ – Kraken Robotics Inc. (TSX-V: PNG) (OTCQB: KRKNF), is pleased to announce that its German subsidiary, Kraken Robotik GmbH was named a winner in the Carbon Trust’s Offshore Wind Accelerator (OWA) competition. The OWA is a collaborative R&D program funded by nine leading offshore wind developers and the Scottish Government to reduce the cost of offshore wind energy. Kraken Robotik was one of only four companies selected in the competition.

Kraken will receive hands-on mentoring and advice from the nine OWA industry partners, which collectively represent over 75 per cent of the European offshore wind market, as well as a potential opportunity to demonstrate its SeaVision® 3D Underwater Laser Imaging System on installed foundations at a fully operational wind farm in Europe.  The aim of the competition is to help advanced technologies access the large emerging market and become part of the normal subsea inspection strategy for offshore wind developers.

Michael Stephenson, Project Manager of the Foundations Working Area in the Offshore Wind Accelerator commented, “Kraken’s winning technology is an exciting advancement in subsea inspection. Their previous experience in the oil and gas sector shows how transferrable many of the products and skills are to the offshore wind sector, and how it can continue to contribute to the falling costs of offshore wind.”

“We are very honored to be a winner in this competition,” said Dr. Jakob Schwender, Managing Director of Kraken Robotik GmbH. “Offshore wind turbine inspection is a burgeoning market opportunity that dovetails nicely not only with Kraken’s SeaVision™ technology but also our future Robotics-as-a-Service strategy. Aligning advanced remote sensing capabilities – such as those provided by our SeaVision™ system – with underwater robotics and predictive analytics should enable the offshore wind industry to make repair and maintenance activities more evidence based. This should enhance safety, increase efficiency and reduce costs and downtime.”

Analysis carried out as part of the OWA’s Underwater Inspection Methods study has shown that there is a real need for innovation in the offshore wind subsea inspection sector. As of January 2017, there were over 3,500 wind turbines installed in Europe. Over 80 per cent of these turbines are built using monopile structures. The European offshore wind industry is predicted to have significant growth over the next 10 years, and the monopile design will continue in popularity.

Current estimates show that around 35 to 40 per cent of the monopile fleet, the majority which are pre-2012 structures, have potentially been affected by issues relating to corrosion caused by the harsh marine environment. Additionally, many of the structures built post-2012 require performance monitoring. New structural designs are also coming online, and these will present additional inspection challenges for the industry.

The report, Wind Turbine Operations & Maintenance (O&M) Market – Global Market Size, Trends, and Key Country Analysis to 2025, provides an overview of wind power technology, the value chain, and the introduction about wind turbine O&M market. The global wind O&M market grew from over US$2 billion in 2006 to nearly US$14 billion in 2016. The market is expected to reach over US$27 billion by 2025.

Offshore wind accounted for about 8% of the total wind O&M market in 2016, with a market size of over US$1 billion. Offshore wind attracts higher O&M costs in comparison to onshore wind. The harsh operating environment, higher turbine maintenance, higher logistics costs and a lack of skilled manpower make offshore wind services more challenging than the onshore equivalent. It is estimated that the offshore wind O&M market will continue to grow, to reach over US$5 billion by 2025.

 

About SeaVision®

SeaVision® is the world’s first RGB underwater laser imaging system that offers the resolution, range and scan rate to deliver dense full colour 3D point cloud images of subsea infrastructure with millimetre accuracy in real time. The initial system is designed for deployment on underwater robotic platforms such as Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) and Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs).

Equipped with a high-resolution camera and laser, the system allows operators to reconstruct objects on the seabed in such a way that detailed models can be subsequently produced for 3D visualization. Its 3D imaging capabilities include generation of geo-registered “as-built” models of structures on the seabed or in the water column, survey of subsea infrastructure and comparison against baseline models and detection of structural defects or other out-of-spec conditions that exceed threshold values.

The ability to generate accurate 3D reconstruction of underwater infrastructure is an important requirement for commercial, military and ocean research applications. While sonar is the technology of choice for covering large areas, 3D laser systems such as Kraken’s SeaVision® provide significantly higher resolution and accuracy at inspection ranges of under 10 metres.

SeaVision® uses a full colour laser scanning process that’s repeated thousands of times per second to generate coordinate values of millions of points on a reflected surface. The coordinates and intensity associated with each reflected laser pulse are processed in real time to generate an ultra high-resolution point cloud. SeaVision® produces over 300,000 colored points per second and can reconstruct a 3D object in real-time with typical spatial accuracy of better than 2 millimetres. These datasets can be used to create highly detailed models for 3D visualization, asset management, artificial intelligence and predictive analytics.

 

About Carbon Trust

The Carbon Trust is an independent, expert partner of leading organisations around the world, helping them contribute to and benefit from a more sustainable future through carbon reduction, resource efficiency strategies and commercialising low carbon technologies. Our partners and clients are leaders in this transition – governments and multilateral organisations, businesses and the public sector. We act as a catalyst, working closely with them to help them succeed. For more information, please visit https://www.carbontrust.com.

 

About Kraken Robotics Inc.

Kraken Robotics Inc. (TSX.V:PNG) (OTCQB: KRKNF) is a marine technology company, founded in 2012, that is dedicated to the production and sale of software-centric sensors and underwater robotic systems. The company is headquartered in St. John’s, Newfoundland with offices in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia; Bremen, Germany; and Fairfax, Virginia. For more information, please visit www.krakenrobotics.com, www.krakenrobotik.de, www.krakenpower.de. Find us on social media on Twitter (@krakenrobotics), Facebook (@krakenroboticsinc), and LinkedIn.

Certain information in this news release constitutes forward-looking statements. When used in this news release, the words “may”, “would”, “could”, “will”, “intend”, “plan”, “anticipate”, “believe”, “seek”, “propose”, “estimate”, “expect”, and similar expressions, as they relate to the Company, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. In particular, this news release contains forward-looking statements with respect to, among other things, business objectives, expected growth, results of operations, performance, business projects and opportunities and financial results. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect the Company’s current views with respect to future events based on certain material factors and assumptions and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, including without limitation, changes in market, competition, governmental or regulatory developments, general economic conditions and other factors set out in the Company’s public disclosure documents. Many factors could cause the Company’s actual results, performance or achievements to vary from those described in this news release, including without limitation those listed above. These factors should not be construed as exhaustive. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should assumptions underlying forward-looking statements prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in this news release and such forward-looking statements included in, or incorporated by reference in this news release, should not be unduly relied upon. Such statements speak only as of the date of this news release. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange Inc. nor its Regulation Services Provide (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release, and the OTCQB has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release.

 

For further information, please contact:

 Sean Peasgood, Investor Relations

(416) 565-2805

sean@sophiccapital.com

 

Greg Reid, Chief Financial Officer

(416) 818-9822

greid@krakenrobotics.com

 

Glenda Leyte, Marketing Manager

(709) 757-5757 extension 288

gleyte@krakenrobotics.com