Denmark is not just talking about climate and sustainable energy, they are acting NOW.
Planning for a offshore windpark in the North Sea.
Denmark is building the world's first Energy Island in the North Sea that will distribute electricity to surrounding countries from wind farms with 10,000 wind turbines.
BUVI Scandinavia's customer, Aarhus University Department of Ecoscience, has the assignment of conducting a sea floor survey in the North Sea for the energy island to be built. It is carried out to assess the potential effect of the construction.
Picture: Marie Fleetwood, BUVI Scandinavia
BUVI Scandinavia provides an extra ROV pilot so that the work can be maximized in an efficient way.
- Karsten Dahl says that the ROV system worked really well despite heavy currents down to the bottom of the sea. They got all the data planned, fast and very efficient without any problems.
Karsten conveyed his gratitude for the collaboration with BUVI Scandinavia. Conditions can be very unpredictable when working 100 km out at sea on the sea floor so having the support of an additional ROV and pilot on board is invaluable.
Picture: Rickard Forsman, BUVI Scandinavia
Aarhus University Department of Ecoscience investigates the benthic habitats in the area and what kinds of biological life exist on the sandy sea floor and on boulder fields in the area. The work will assist the planners making the final decision of the specific location of the island and the turbines in the associated wind parks.
To introduce a high number of wind turbines in the largely sandy North Sea as well as a new island also requires introducing artificial reef structures. The impact of such a large scale experiment is still unknown but this study is an important baseline.
To help with this project, the Department of Ecoscience has a Oceanbotics SRV-8 ROV. In this case the ROV was used to supplement sediment core samples observing rare species on the sandy seabed surface and hard bottom organism like the soft coral “dead mans finger” where the substrate was too stony for core sampling.
With the ROV they also make a visual inspection of the sea bed sediment composition and disturbance. The work will be compiled in a report combining existing seabed maps, core sample data and information gathered from video footage and images collected by SRV-8 ROV.
Picture: Karsten Dahl, Aarhus University Department of Ecoscience, with SRV-8 ROV
More information about the wind power project in the North Sea:
Denmark is hosting an ambitious climate summit on Jutland's west coast (May 18), where heads of government from Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium, together with EU Commission President von der Leyen, are expected to sign an agreement to significantly expand offshore wind power in North Sea.
The plan is presented on the same day as the EU's strategy for how the Union will become independent of Russian gas, and the security policy ambitions here go hand in hand with climate policy.
By 2050, according to the agreement, the four countries will together have 150 gigawatts of installed wind power in the North Sea. This means 10,000 wind turbines of the largest model available, and is ten times more wind power than what is available on the North Sea today or six times more offshore wind power than there is in total - worldwide.
Denmark is building the world's first energy island with a size of 120,000 square meters - equivalent to 18 football pitches, to be able to handle everything collected. The artificial energy island will be located 80-100 kilometers outside Denmark in the North Sea. The energy island will collect wind power from surrounding offshore wind farms, which it will distribute directly to the surrounding countries, via cables on the sea floor.
Interview with:
Karsten Dahl, Aarhus University Department of Ecoscience
Sources:
https://unric.org/sv/varldens-forsta-energio-ska-byggas-av-danmark/
https://sverigesradio.se/artikel/kraftig-utbyggnad-av-vindkraft-i-nordsjon-vantas
