The Space@Sea project has officially started with the aim of developing a standardized and cost-efficient modular island capable of producing and storing energy from offshore renewable sources, among its other multi-use applications.
Space@Sea consists of seventeen European partners, including companies, research institutes and universities, united under Horizon 2020-funded project to develop a modular concept for multi-use platforms with low ecological impact.
The three-year project that officially started on November 1, 2017, will study the most suitable shape of the floaters to minimize the motions at sea.
The total worth of the project is around €7.6 million, out of which Horizon 2020 is providing approximately €6.8 million to support its development.
As a starting point, triangles that allow modular design will be used to maximize the flexibility of adding and removing deck space and applications if necessary.
Offshore specialists will contribute to design a shared mooring solution in combination with a remote monitoring and sensing system to reduce installation and maintenance costs, according to the project consortium.
Maarten Flikkema , Project Coordinator at Maritime Research Institute Netherlands (MARIN), said: “The three-year project can be regarded as a success if the modular design of the multi-use platform has successfully been validated in a relevant environment at model scale.”
To remind, the concept for floating mega island, comprising 87 large triangle-shaped floaters, was tested at MARIN earlier this year.
During Space@Sea project, four applications for the island will be studied including farming, transport and logistics hub, energy hub and living.
To show the potential of multi-use modular floating islands, Space@Sea will conclude with the evaluation of three business cases with combinations of applications for various locations throughout Europe, the project consortium said.