Scottish innovator Pict Offshore is celebrating a major milestone with the completion of the 25,000th safe operational personnel transfer using its Get Up Safe (GUS) offshore wind turbine access system.
Awarded the Best Innovation Award at the 2019 Scottish Green Energy Awards, the GUS system safely transfers technicians between vessels and offshore wind turbines, eliminating the need for traditional access ladders and boat-landing structures and significantly reducing steel usage, costs and maintenance requirements for offshore wind installations. Installed at 165 turbines at Orsted’s Hornsea 2 offshore windfarm in the UK, GUS system transfers at Hornsea passed 17,000 in early 2026 after four and a half years of operations, with the South Fork and Revolution Wind projects in the USA adding a further 8,000 transfers since mid-2024.
Pict Chief Executive, Phil Taylor, commented, “Achieved in partnership with Orsted, this major milestone is testament to ongoing innovation and engineering excellence, and a real coming-of-age for the GUS technology. It demonstrates the maturity of the game-changing technology that enhances crew safety, increases turbine access and reduces both manufacturing and operational costs”.
GUS systems are entirely embedded into the wind farms’ operational set-up. With GUS systems the sole method of access from Crew Transfer Vessel or daughter craft, they are used daily by windfarm personnel within both the construction and generating phases of the project’s life cycle. A second GUS system training centre has just been opened in the USA, operated by the National Offshore Wind Institute in New Bedford.
While enhanced safety and accessibility for offshore wind projects have been the underlying drivers for deploying GUS, the cost savings associated with optimising foundation design through removal of boat landings has proven an additional upside. As Patrick Harnett, Orsted’s Chief Construction Officer states:
“By utilising Pict Offshore’s Get Up Safe system, our South Fork, Revolution and Sunrise Wind Farms are able to significantly reduce the bill of materials within the secondary steel package, as well as lowering installation time and costs, thereby optimising the capex of the project.”
Mikkel Maehlisen, Orsted’s VP Generation Americas, said, “Safe and efficient personnel transfer is critical to successful offshore operations, and we have completed thousands of transfers using Pict Offshore’s Get Up Safe system”. “The GUS system is simple and easy to use, and it continues to demonstrate its value as we grow our team of U.S. wind technicians, strengthening our commitment to worker safety while improving operational efficiency.”
Reflecting the maturity of the GUS system, this year has seen Pict Offshore launch its next generation solution, the GUSx2. This product builds on the key learnings from operating GUS systems at commercial scale for almost a half-decade and adds full davit crane functionality to further enhance cost-benefits for wind projects.
“With the development of GUSx2, Pict is optimistic and ambitious for the future”, Phil Taylor added. “We are expecting to grow through both UK and export contracts and are aiming to engage with developers on the Clean Industry Bonus scheme to facilitate expansion of our UK manufacturing capabilities through future Contracts for Difference auction rounds”.