Observe a heavy-lifting drone landing a flawless delivery on an offshore wind turbine.

An albatross-sized autonomous drone is now testing cargo restocking for a massive offshore wind farm in
the North Sea. The 128-pound unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), which is roughly the weight of "a large
baby giraffe" and is overseen by the Danish wind power company rsted, is intended to save time and
money while also improving overall operational safety, and is billed as the world's first of its kind.

"Drones mean less work disruption because turbines do not have to be shut down when cargo is
delivered," rsted stated in an October 30 announcement. "They avoid risk, making it safer for personnel
working on the wind farm and minimise the need for multiple journeys by ship, reducing carbon
emissions and climate change impacts."

The large drone is seen launching from the deck of a cargo ship while towing a large orange bag
suspended by a cable beneath the UAV. The transport then soars over a few hundred feet of North Sea
water, hovering above one of Hornsea 1's seven-megawatt wind turbines. Once on the platform, the
drone carefully lands its cargo before releasing its tether and returning to its crew transfer vessel,
where human pilots have overseen the entire process. rsted's Hornsea 1 wind farm is made up of 174
turbines spread across 157 square miles in the North Sea. The farm's electricity, which generates
approximately 1.7GW, is sufficient to sustainably power over 1 million homes in the UK.

While rsted did not identify its drone partner in the project announcement, additional promotional
materials provided by the company confirm it is Skylift, a UK-based company specialising in offshore
wind farm deliveries.

"We want to use our industry leading position to help push forward innovations that reduce costs and
maximise efficiency and safety in the offshore wind sector," Mikkel Haugaard Windolf, head of rsted's
offshore logistics project, said in an October 30 announcement, adding, "Drone cargo delivery is an
important step in that direction."

Despite its numerous Hornsea wind farm successes, rsted has experienced significant setbacks in its
attempts to enter the US market. Local officials in Cape May County, New Jersey, filed a lawsuit earlier
this month in an attempt to halt construction of a 1.1 gigatonne project involving nearly 100 turbines off
the coast of Atlantic City, citing regulatory loopholes and environmental concerns. The American Clean
Power Association's Director of Eastern Region State Affairs, in an email to PopSci at the time, called the
lawsuit "meritless," and reiterated that offshore wind energy production remains "one of the most
rigorously regulated industries in the nation."