Suchergebnisse

Floating wind foundations could unlock offshore wind power generation in deeper and more remote waters. This report examines how quickly floating wind is progressing towards becoming a key contributor to the global electricity supply mix. It contains a special focus on developments in the UK and Scotland, uncovering challenges that could undermine the growth of floating wind, as well as policy recommendations to overcome these. The floating wind market is growing steadily, expanding from almost zero installed capacity in 2008 to 57 MW in 2018. Looking forward, there is an impressive pipeline of projects for future deployment. By 2030, global capacity of floating wind could be as high as 4.3 GW. Deployment of installed capacity has to date been dominated by the UK and Japan, and the vast majority of these foundations have been designed and developed by companies in Norway and Japan. New entrants, most notably the USA and France, are expected to challenge for leadership in both deployment and design. Whilst SMEs have played a central role in driving growth in the sector, multi-national energy firms are investing heavily in floating wind deployment and design. These include: (1) oil and gas majors; (2) energy utilities; and (3) Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). Floating wind rated turbine capacity more than tripled and hub height almost doubled between 2008–13 and 2013–18. However, the majority of projects remain single-turbine demonstration projects, with just one array deployed. During the same period, the projects' distance from shore has doubled to average 11km but their depth has increased by just 7%. However, at an average depth of 65m, projects are operating in waters deeper than most bottom-fixed foundations are economically capable of. The UK is the world leader in floating wind deployment, with 56% of global capacity. Retaining this future lead will, however, be likely to depend on it retaining an open trading relationship with the EU, a relationship that it has depended on heavily to deliver its ...

There is increasing competition for space in coastal seas as new industrial sectors, such as Marine Renewable Energy (MRE) and Aquaculture, seek to expand. Multi-Use - involving sharing of space and, in some cases, facilities - can lessen competition and reduce industry costs if societal and economic challenges can be overcome. An example societal challenge is that of gaining Social Licence to Operate (SLO) for 'Multifunctional Offshore Installations' (MOI) combining fish farming with MRE (from wind and waves) in a large floating structure. This article reports a mixed-methods study at two potential MOI deployment sites in 2019, aiming to understand the local context for SLO. A survey was carried out in Reggio Calabria, Italy, with 108 respondents, and in Islay, Scotland, with 127 respondents. Questions concerned opinions about MRE and fish-farming, separately and combined. A facilitated workshop in Reggio Calabria provided additional qualitative data. Most findings were the same in both places. Respondents thought better of MRE than fish-farming but remained moderately likely to eat fish produced in MOI. The majority distrusted regulators to control environmental impacts of the technology. The main differences were that respondents in Reggio Calabria anticipated local benefits from MOI industrial activity, and were more likely to accept development by non-local owners than were people on Islay. We interpreted the findings in a conceptual framework that combines theory for SLO with theory for Action Situations, hypothesising that a community's diffuse and perhaps heterogenous opinions might 'crystalise' around an issue during an Action Situation. The hypothesis will be tested when a prototype MOI is deployed near Reggio Calabria in 2021. ; This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program under Grant Agreement No 774426. The questionnaire was designed and administered by the data authors and does not reflect the opinion of the European Commission. The ...

Aquaculture and marine renewable energy are two expanding sectors of the Blue Economy in Europe. Assessing the long-term environmental impacts in terms of eutrophication and noise is a priority for both the EU Water Framework Directive and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, and cumulative impacts will be important for the Maritime Spatial Planning under the Integrated Maritime Policy. With the constant expansion of aquaculture production, it is expected that farms might be established further offshore in more remote areas, as high-energy conditions offer an opportunity to generate more power locally using Marine Renewable Energy (MRE) devices. A proposed solution is the co-location of MRE devices and aquaculture systems using Multi-Purpose Platforms (MPPs) comprising offshore wind turbines (OWTs) that will provide energy for farm operations as well as potentially shelter the farm. Disentangling the impacts, conflicts and synergies of MPP elements on the surrounding marine ecosystem is challenging. Here we created a high-resolution spatiotemporal Ecospace model of the West of Scotland, in order to assess impacts of a simple MPP configuration on the surrounding ecosystem and how these impacts can cascade through the food web. The model evaluated the following specific ecosystem responses: i) top-down control pathways due to distribution changes among top-predators (harbour porpoise, gadoids and seabirds) driven by attraction to the farming sites and/or repulsion/killing due to OWT operations; ii) bottom-up control pathways due to salmon farm activity providing increasing benthic enrichment predicated by a fish farm particle dispersal model, and sediment nutrient fluxes to the water column by early diagenesis of organic matter (recycled production). Weak responses of the food-web were found for top-down changes, whilst the results showed high sensitivity to increasing changes of bottom-up drivers that cascaded through the food-web from primary producers and detritus to pelagic and benthic consumers respectively. We assessed the sensitivity of the model to each of these impacts and the cumulative effects on the ecosystem, discuss the capabilities and limitations of the Ecospace modelling approach as a potential tool for marine spatial planning and the impact that these results could have for the Blue Economy and the EU's New Green Deal.

Aquaculture and marine renewable energy are two expanding sectors of the Blue Economy in Europe. Assessing the long-term environmental impacts in terms of eutrophication and noise is a priority for both the EU Water Framework Directive and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, and cumulative impacts will be important for the Maritime Spatial Planning under the Integrated Maritime Policy. With the constant expansion of aquaculture production, it is expected that farms might be established further offshore in more remote areas, as high-energy conditions offer an opportunity to generate more power locally using Marine Renewable Energy (MRE) devices. A proposed solution is the co-location of MRE devices and aquaculture systems using Multi-Purpose Platforms (MPPs) comprising offshore wind turbines (OWTs) that will provide energy for farm operations as well as potentially shelter the farm. Disentangling the impacts, conflicts and synergies of MPP elements on the surrounding marine ecosystem is challenging. Here we created a high-resolution spatiotemporal Ecospace model of the West of Scotland, in order to assess impacts of a simple MPP configuration on the surrounding ecosystem and how these impacts can cascade through the food web. The model evaluated the following specific ecosystem responses: (i) top-down control pathways due to distribution changes among top-predators (harbor porpoise, gadoids and seabirds) driven by attraction to the farming sites and/or repulsion/killing due to OWT operations; (ii) bottom-up control pathways due to salmon farm activity providing increasing benthic enrichment predicated by a fish farm particle dispersal model, and sediment nutrient fluxes to the water column by early diagenesis of organic matter (recycled production). Weak responses of the food-web were found for top-down changes, whilst the results showed high sensitivity to increasing changes of bottom-up drivers that cascaded through the food-web from primary producers and detritus to pelagic and benthic consumers, respectively. We assessed the sensitivity of the model to each of these impacts and the cumulative effects on the ecosystem, discuss the capabilities and limitations of the Ecospace modeling approach as a potential tool for marine spatial planning and the impact that these results could have for the Blue Economy and the EU's New Green Deal.

Aquaculture and marine renewable energy are two expanding sectors of the Blue Economy in Europe. Assessing the long-term environmental impacts in terms of eutrophication and noise is a priority for both the EU Water Framework Directive and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, and cumulative impacts will be important for the Maritime Spatial Planning under the Integrated Maritime Policy. With the constant expansion of aquaculture production, it is expected that farms might be established further offshore in more remote areas, as high-energy conditions offer an opportunity to generate more power locally using Marine Renewable Energy (MRE) devices. A proposed solution is the co-location of MRE devices and aquaculture systems using Multi-Purpose Platforms (MPPs) comprising offshore wind turbines (OWTs) that will provide energy for farm operations as well as potentially shelter the farm. Disentangling the impacts, conflicts and synergies of MPP elements on the surrounding marine ecosystem is challenging. Here we created a high-resolution spatiotemporal Ecospace model of the West of Scotland, in order to assess impacts of a simple MPP configuration on the surrounding ecosystem and how these impacts can cascade through the food web. The model evaluated the following specific ecosystem responses: (i) top-down control pathways due to distribution changes among top-predators (harbor porpoise, gadoids and seabirds) driven by attraction to the farming sites and/or repulsion/killing due to OWT operations; (ii) bottom-up control pathways due to salmon farm activity providing increasing benthic enrichment predicated by a fish farm particle dispersal model, and sediment nutrient fluxes to the water column by early diagenesis of organic matter (recycled production). Weak responses of the food-web were found for top-down changes, whilst the results showed high sensitivity to increasing changes of bottom-up drivers that cascaded through the food-web from primary producers and detritus to pelagic and benthic consumers, ...