FLORA

The FLORA project will develop an industrial-scale prototype of a multi-purpose ocean station with renewable energy generation and operational oceanography capabilities: the FLORA Ocean Station.
Equipped with a novel sensor suite, the FLORA O.S. will be deployable as a low environmental impact system for bird and biodiversity data acquisition at sea. As an automated data acquisition tool, the FLORA O.S. will accelerate oceanic multi-use by eliminating much of random sampling, estimation, and extrapolation in which modern Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) are largely rooted. The 2-year project will demonstrate the prototype in a real environment and aims for TRL 7.

The siting of Offshore Wind (OSW) energy projects is critical: tough to undo once done. Thus, marine development projects require large amounts of accurate, environmental data i.e., abundant longitudinal data that is typically collected, through often dated methods, over long periods. These legacy methods and approaches are costly and inefficient. One main reason for e.g., is that reliable seabird data is difficult to capture as it is usually collected manually through costly and cumbersome ‘boat & binocular’
methods, i.e., manned, marine voyages during weather-permitting windows. Similarly, aircraft-supported campaigns are expensive and intrusive. Our remote, in-situ, solution will innovate these approaches.

The main activities will be coordinated as 5 work packages (WPs):
The 1st WP, Coordination, Mos.1 – 24, entails the full project management.
The 2nd WP, Front End Engineering Design, Mos.1 – 4, has the objective of a detailed design for manufacturing.
The 3rd WP is where things will come to life with Construction & Assembly, Mos. 5 – 12. The objective is the assembly of the physical prototype.
The 4th WP, System Level Demonstration, Mos.13 – 24. will see the deployment and operation at PLOCAN.
WP5, Dissemination & Exploitation, Mos.1 – 24 will publicize project info. update the market analysis / business plan.

 By developing a modern, high-powered, remote sensing tool that facilitates the impact assessment and thus consenting of Offshore Wind parks, the project contributes directly to the EU Nature Directives (Habitats Directive, Birds Directive), the Marine Strategy Framework Directive and the Maritime Spatial Planning Directive (article 5-1 and 5-2). As well, by unlocking OSW energy through improved EIAs the project also contributes to the Renewables Directive.
Moreover, the development of a novel multi-purpose remote sensing station is commensurate with the EC’s emerging Ocean Observation Initiative to structure and harmonise the collection of data in the oceans for different purposes, including environmental monitoring.

The FLORA project stands on the shoulders of several EU-funded multi-use projects. Through exemplification, the project will expand the MUSES project conceptualisation of Multi-Use Platforms (MUPs). This advent not only expands the general characterisation of multi-use at sea but also adds a new typology of MUP not yet observed in the general identification of multi-use platforms: renewable ocean energy and environmental monitoring.
Similarly, our project expands the definition of MUP Auxiliary Platforms in the MARIBE project. FLORA will also add to the case study cache developed within the ORECCA project by establishing a new concept for a MUP: FLORA.

The detailed design is already completed, and the development will be realized by Wedge Global (Spain), with Composite Solutions (Portugal) to construct the base structure and Daretech (Ireland) to develop the energy storage and power monitoring sub-systems. Elittoral (Spain) will design the environmental sensing program and will also advise the project as an end-user, ensuring that the project includes the ‘voice of the customer’, while Laminak Energy (France) will lead the go-to-market study as well as dissemination and communication actions. Roger Espejo, chief innovation officer of Wedge Global and project manager of the FLORA project, states: “FLORA brings a new chapter to multi-use platforms by combining renewable energy and ocean observation: a highly synergetic coupling”.

Co-funded by the EMFF programme of the European Union under grant agreement No 101077554.

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