10145550Offshore Renewables Accelerated Consenting and Lifecycle Environmental Surveys: O.R.A.C.L.E.SActiveCollaborative R&DInnovate UKProject ORACLES, led by Robosys in partnership with ACUA, MSEIS, Plymouth Marine Laboratories, and OREC, seeks to transform the environmental consenting process for offshore wind farms (OWF), particularly in areas like the Celtic Sea, which can take up to 48 months, creating significant delays and increased costs for developers. One reason it takes this long is the requirement for large amounts of data from OWF sites, currently collected manually by a single provider, e.g., one solution for bird monitoring, and another for sea conditions. Data is evaluated after delivery to shore, not in real-time. OREC's ACORD project identified a critical need for advanced technologies like marine robotic systems to collect diverse data using sensors such as eDNA, ADCP, and acoustics, to monitor marine life, water quality, and environmental changes more cost-efficiently and at scale. ORACLES will address this by developing and deploying advanced marine robotics and digital ocean technologies that can accelerate data collection, reduce costs, and maintain high environmental standards whilst reducing CO2 emissions. The project will develop the autonomous dynamic positioning (DP) systems and automated ballasting for ACUA's Uncrewed Surface Vessels (USVs), and a beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) profiling winch capable of launching and recovering multiple environmental sensor payloads from the USV. This will improve the consortium's offering as the USVs will host multiple sensors for holistic data collection. These innovations will reduce the need for multiple crewed survey missions and enable a faster, more cost-efficient consenting process for OWF projects through the collection of more cohesive and comprehensive datasets. The technology will also significantly reduce environmental disturbances and carbon emissions compared to conventional crewed vessels, aligning with clean maritime goals. ORACLES will have a direct impact on the marine and maritime innovation cluster in the Great South West. Through collaboration between local partners and industry leaders, the project will enhance the region's expertise in marine autonomy, clean maritime, and digital ocean technologies. This will strengthen the cluster's role as a hub for maritime innovation, creating high-skilled jobs and contributing to the economic growth of the region. Commercially, the project's outputs will have potential in the rapidly growing UK offshore wind sector, as well as in international markets across Europe, Australia, and the United States. These innovations will unlock new business opportunities for environmental monitoring, OWF development, and scientific research, supporting the government's Levelling Up agenda and driving economic growth in the Great South West.