The Danish Energy Agency recently announced three new offshore wind farms in Denmark. One of the tenders requires the project to include so-called nature-inclusive design. This applies to the offshore wind farm planned north of Hesselø.
Nature-inclusive design in the green transition to offshore wind is one of several initiatives aimed at safeguarding marine nature while expanding offshore wind energy.
DTU Aqua is leading the way across a wide range of projects, delivering knowledge, innovation, consultancy, and education both nationally and internationally. We present examples of these projects and competencies in this article.
“The world needs a green transition in our energy production. At the same time, we need solutions that can halt the decline in biodiversity. DTU Aqua ensures that these two needs can work together at sea through measuring biodiversity impacts and recommending material designs and placements that enhance local biodiversity,” says Anna Rindorf, Director at DTU Aqua, and elaborates:
“This takes place in close collaboration with businesses to ensure that the solutions developed can be applied in practice. In this way, we work to increase the sustainability of offshore wind turbines also for the local marine environments.”
Collaborations Offer Exciting Opportunities for Innovation
In recent years, both the EU and Denmark have allocated significant public resources to explore the potential for reconciling renewable energy expansion with the protection and restoration of marine nature. Private foundations have done the same.
As part of this effort and on a European scale, DTU Aqua participates in a number of major projects that, from various research perspectives, provide blue knowledge and pave the way for best practice when it comes to incorporating nature considerations and coexistence into the planning of offshore constructions in the green transition to offshore wind.
“These years we are very happy to have the opportunity to collaborate with large international energy companies that make their offshore infrastructure available for testing, for example, for new combinations of monitoring technologies and drones to observe marine ecosystems and the biodiversity found within offshore wind farms,” says Christian Riisager-Simonsen, Marine Research Policy Advisor at DTU Aqua.
DTU Aqua’s role in offshore wind does not stop here. Most recently, the Danish Energy Agency’s international unit drew on experts such as DTU Aqua’s Esther Savina during its mission to Brazil to ensure DTU’s international experience with managing coexistence among multiple maritime activities is incorporated into future offshore wind expansion plans.