HeliService USA: Efficient Offshore Wind Transportation

Allen and Joel speak with Michael Tosi, founder and CEO of HeliService USA, which is providing helicopter transportation for the offshore wind industry. HeliService USA provides efficient, safe, and environmentally-friendly transport for technicians and equipment to offshore wind farms, providing an advantage over marine vessels. With the highest safety standards, cost-effectiveness, and speed, HeliService is making offshore wind travel better. Sign up now for Uptime Tech News, our weekly email update on all things wind technology. This episode is sponsored by Weather Guard Lightning Tech. Learn more about Weather Guard's StrikeTape Wind Turbine LPS retrofit. Follow the show on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Linkedin and visit Weather Guard on the web. And subscribe to Rosemary Barnes' YouTube channel here. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us! Pardalote Consulting - https://www.pardaloteconsulting.comWeather Guard Lightning Tech - www.weatherguardwind.comIntelstor - https://www.intelstor.com Allen Hall: Welcome to the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast. I'm your host, Allen Hall, along with my co host, Joel Saxum. As offshore wind continues to develop in the U. S., transportation of technicians and equipment is becoming a big issue for developers and operators to tackle. HeliService USA provides helicopter transportation and support services for the offshore wind industry in the U. S. Based in Rhode Island, the company is utilizing the unique capabilities of helicopters to deliver personnel, cargo, and equipment. and conduct maintenance operations efficiently. Our guest is Michael Tosi, founder and CEO of HeliService USA. Michael is a helicopter pilot and also served in the U S air force. Michael, welcome to the show. Michael Tosi: Thank you, Allen. Really appreciate you having me today and look forward to chatting more. Allen Hall: You're in a really busy place right now because the pace of construction on U. S. offshore projects has really picked up. And you're flying technicians back and forth. How many flights are you conducting right now a week? Michael Tosi: So it, it varies. There's two big scopes that we cover. So the first scope we cover is actually the construction of the wind farm. For the construction of the wind farm, we're typically flying offshore workers who are going to be on vessels for, two, three, four, five, six weeks, depending on what their shift schedule is. So that involves flying out to an installation vessel, a heavy lift vessel S. O. V. potentially, depositing those passengers we usually bring folks back to the other direction. And so those flights go on per vessel, sometimes once a week, twice a week, per vessel in the field. And now, of course, because they have several turbines up, more than several at this stage we're also helping with operations and maintenance even prior to the wind farms being completed. We are actually going to be commissioning flights as well. To certain turbines. I think that's the first time at least that I'm familiar with that certainly has probably occurred in Europe. But at least from what our customers tell us that some of the first times they've used helicopters for commissioning were as well on the turbine. It can be a bit cyclical on the demand, depending on when the vessels are here or not. But just for some numbers, I think it's a good thing. We've been in operation for about a year and transported over 6, 000 people offshore during that time. To my knowledge, I think we transported certainly more than any other with just 16 folks offshore. So it's been a busy year. Joel Saxum: Let me ask you a question, Michael. What does it look like for a technician that's going to go Fly out to a turbine for work. Do they arrive at your facility with all their gear ready to go? And five minutes later, they're in a helicopter or how, what does that look like? Michael Tosi: It's a pretty quick process.