RWE Engineer Builds World’s First Amphibious Vessel for Energy Sector

Aston Goddard is a Marine Engineer for RWE Renewables in the UK and the living embodiment of our value ‘We push boundaries’. When he was confronted with a problem and found no viable solution, he developed one himself. 

RWE’s wind turbines located at the Scroby Sands wind farm had become landlocked, meaning that access to some of the turbines was heavily restricted.

There was no viable vehicle on the market which could traverse both land and shallow water - until Aston created a first-of-its-kind vehicle for the renewable sector.

“Over the last four years I’ve looked into many different options - helicopters, jet skis, banana boats - anything you can think of,” explains Aston. "Ultimately, we had to come up with an idea of our own, which led us to developing the vessel in January last year.”

The right person for the task

Ever since, this has been the focus of Aston’s working life. “I looked into weird and wonderful ideas for shallow water access,” he tells us. “We ended up speaking to a Danish scientist who had designed a leg system to provide access to his cafe out on Danish waters."

Aston then worked with teams across RWE, its vessel provider Commercial Rib Charter (CRC) and naval architectural consultants Chartwell Marine to make the concept.

The result is the CRC Walrus - a 12m type approved crew transfer vessel (CTV), which can transfer 10 technicians and two crew to any of the Scroby Sand wind turbines. It cruises at 24 knots on water and 6kph on land, with fuel economy expected to be cut by around 50% compared to the current CTV.

As for the name? “I called it Walrus because that’s what it looked like to me - its front legs as tusks and the wheel as a big flipper at the back,” Aston explains.

Making career dreams a reality

Aston admits that as an engineer, developing an industry first is a dream come true: “I had sleepless nights but it wasn’t because of worry - it was passion for the job. We brought together 10 teams from within RWE to make it a reality.”

The resulting solution is now being built by Diverse Marine, with CRC having a six-year contract to operate it on behalf of RWE. It is expected to be operational by September 2022.

So what’s next for Aston and his CRC Walrus?

“We’ll look to develop it and move forward. This could be a stepping stone to support other wind farms - whether they belong to RWE or not." 

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