Flora
This project has received 1.414.543,21€ from the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF) under Grant Agreement n°101077554.
Our project FLORA is an industrial-scale prototype of a purpose-built, self-powered, oceanic multi-use platform (MUP) with bird detection capabilities. Equipped with a novel sensor suite, FLORA will be deployable as a low environmental impact system for bird and biodiversity data acquisition, which is critical to Marine Spatial Planning (MSP).
The FLORA, an automated data acquisition tool, enhances the multi-use of ocean space by reducing the need for random sampling, estimation, and extrapolation, which are prevalent in current Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs).
The European Commission’s 2020 Guide on Wind Energy Developments and EU Nature Legislation emphasizes the importance of basing assessments on high-quality, objective information and reliable data, using appropriate and robust scientific methodologies.
Utilizing radar-sensed spatial seabird data early on can facilitate the marine co-location of economic activities through Marine Spatial Planning (MSP), mitigate negative impacts on seabirds, and identify suitable areas for offshore wind development. The automated data collection enabled by the FLORA station accelerates the deployment of offshore renewables.
Based on our 2014 wave energy converter (W1) design, the new platform features environmental sensing capabilities that enable operational oceanography. Notably, the new model is equipped with a pioneering radar to collect long-term seabird data sets for environmental impact assessments and consenting of proposed offshore wind farms.
