FLOating RAdar

ended

The FLORA project will develop and demonstrate an industrial-scale prototype of a multi-purpose ocean station with renewable energy generation and operational oceanography capabilities: the FLORA Ocean Station (or FLORA O.S.). Equipped with a novel sensor suite, the FLORA O.S. will be deployable as a low environmental impact system for bird and biodiversity data acquisition which is critical to Marine Spatial Planning (MSP). As an automated data acquisition tool, the FLORA O.S. will accelerate oceanic multi-use by eliminating much of random sampling, estimation, and extrapolation in which modern Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) are largely rooted. Indeed, the European Commission 2020 Guide on Wind Energy Developments and EU Nature Legislation urges that “it is imperative that the assessment of the plan or project is based on good quality, objective information and reliable data, using appropriate and robust, scientific methodology”. The station’s power generation system will be hybridised with wave and solar energy, thus making the system more reliable as a remote oceanic sensor in different marine environments. The detailed design is already completed, and the development will be realised by Wedge (ES), where Composite Solutions (PT) will construct the base structure and Daretech (IE) will develop the energy storage and power monitoring sub-systems. Elittoral (ES) will design the environmental sensing program and also advise the project as an end-user, ensuring that the project includes the ‘voice of the customer’. Laminak (FR) will lead the go-to-market study as well as dissemination and communication. Based on Wedge’s 2014 wave energy converter (decommissioned in 2021), the new FLORA industrial-scale prototype will display environmental sensing features that enable operational oceanography. The new model is a ‘radar-enabled' device to collect long-term seabird data sets for the environmental impact assessments and consenting of proposed offshore wind arrays. The use of radar-sensed, spatial seabird data at an early stage can catalyse marine co-location of economic activity, through MSP, and mitigate the negative impacts on seabirds as well as promote suitable areas for offshore wind development. The automated data collection made possible by the FLORA station will help unlock the roll-out of offshore renewables where according to the OceanSET 2021 annual report “an urgent need still remains to reduce the time necessary for permitting and consenting in order to favour and develop a competitive ocean energy industry in Europe”. On a broader conservation level, the source system will help mainstream so-called important bird and biodiversity areas (IBAs) into the renewable ocean energy sector. The radar feature is complemented by a novel multi-modal sensor system which collects a multitude of underwater data (geophonic, biologic etc.). The station can generate wave and solar powered electricity and also includes a bespoke battery storage system which further enhances its overall value as an in-situ ocean charger. To date, first customer interest have been generated, the advancement of which now hinges on the validation and industrialisation of the solution. Through this 2-year project, the consortia will achieve validation through a ‘real-sea’ demonstration which will facilitate technology optimisation and subsequent market readiness. The EMFAF grant funding is the opportunity to secure €990,180.24 to finance the construction of a prototype and its demonstration in the Canary Islands and further advance towards the commercialisation of the system.