EcoMPV (Eco-designing Marine PhotoVoltaic installations) is a three years project (from October, 2022 to October, 2025) funded by the Belgian Energy transition fund. It will deepen the knowledge about environmental challenges related to offshore PV installations, aiming at technical solutions to mitigate undesired consequences and maximize beneficial impacts. Knowledge gaps will be addressed about (1) altered underwater light field, hydrodynamics, pelagic biogeochemistry and primary production, (2) the artificial habitat provision for colonizing fauna and fish, and (3) effects on carbon fluxes and sequestration. Advice for eco-designing offshore PV installations, paving the way to its environmental licensing, will be formulated in the framework of this project. Five partners are involved in this project: Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS), Ghent University (UGENT), Tractebel Engineering S.A. (Tractebel), Jan De Nul and Dredging International (DEME). Regarding the Task 1.1: hydrodynamic modelling, the goal is to estimate the impact of MPV units on key hydrodynamics model parameters using the 3D hydrodynamic model COHERENS (Luyten (2014)). In interaction with the industrial partners, various conceptual MPV farm designs will be defined (different designs, different number of MPV units, different distance between MPV units). Each farm design will be implemented in the 3D COHERENS hydrodynamic model and tested against various meteorological-ocean conditions (winter vs summer, spring tide vs neap tide, etc.). The results will be studied in order to quantify the near- and far-field hydrodynamic changes in the current velocity field, turbulence, average kinetic energy as well as on the bottom shear stress variation. Furthermore, such modelling of potential hydrological changes serves as the initial step for a more detailed biogeochemical impact study, which will then allow for a complete impact assessment.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2024
The new Research Vessel Belgica represents a major advancement in Belgian maritime research, equipped with cutting-edge technologies and advanced scientific equipment. As a successor to the previous vessel, it introduces new challenges, particularly in managing vast amounts of data generated by its variety of sensors. The redesign of data systems is essential to fully utilize the vessel's capabilities, ensuring trustworthy data collection and analysis. This transformation is vital to meet modern IT standards and comply with European directives like INSPIRE and Open Data, which demand accessible, standardized, and open data. The ODANext project addressed these challenges by enhancing data acquisition workflows, preserving historical data, and establishing a durable infrastructure for data storage and dissemination. These improvements aim to elevate the RV Belgica’s global research impact, facilitate efficient data sharing, and support scientific research, policy-making, and interdisciplinary collaboration.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2024
