7 minute read
Energy Island
PLANNING THE WORLD’S FIRST ARTIFICIAL ENERGY ISLAND
Danish civil engineering company Ramboll will provide high-level support to the VindØ consortium on master-planning the world’s fi rst artifi cial energy island
The VindØ artifi cial island, made of submersible concrete boxes, is planned to be built in the Danish part of the North Sea, around 100km from land by 2030.
This is a monumental project that not only plays a leading role in fulfilling Denmark’s target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 70% by 2030, but also contributes to increasing renewable energy across Europe.
Copenhagen-headquartered Ramboll is supporting this visionary plan through detailed studies of the possible activities on the island. While one of the primary drivers for the project is the transmission of green power to Danish and European shores, the project offers many other possibilities for innovative thinking and value creating infrastructure due to its size and magnitude. Innovative solutions will be essential to accommodate the outputs of windfarms, which could reach a combined capacity of up to 10GW, equivalent to the power consumption of 10 million European households.
DATA CENTRE
Ramboll is studying the possibilities of developing large Power-to-X (PtX) facilities where power from windfarms is converted to products such as hydrogen and ammonia to be used in shipping and industry. Ramboll is also studying the feasibility of a data centre on the energy island. Given the ever-increasing demand for data, placing a data centre on the energy island could help secure a greener data driven future. Combined with abundant and low-cost electricity with proximity to international data cables, this could potentially be attractive for both data centre developers and the owners of the energy island. Finally, with fluctuating outputs from the offshore windfarms, flexibility solutions in the form of energy storage on the energy island, ranging from short-term storage in batteries to storage solutions which may absorb and store power over longer periods, are also being evaluated by Ramboll.
BY-PRODUCTS
For example, activities such as electrolysis and PtX will produce a significant amount of heat as a by-product - in some scenarios enough to supply several large Danish cities. Ramboll is studying different solutions to utilise this for the benefit of the energy island and society as a whole. Another key component is the liveability aspects of creating an island where potentially many people will stay for long or shorter periods. With an expected lifetime of over 50 years, recreational areas as well as safe and attractive environments and accommodation for the temporary inhabitants of the island will need to be developed and designed from the very beginning.
The primary connection point to the energy island will be a port. The port will be essential for shipping and landing materials for construction works, and for shipping of products produced on the island, but also for the daily operations with crew transfer and transfer of supplies and materials needed for the operations. Ramboll is also studying other options for utilising the port. The port will obviously be very well positioned for the daily operations and maintenance of the offshore wind farm facilities. But the port could possibly also have a role as a service port for other users, such as fishing vessels, Danish Coast Guard vessels, environmental monitoring vessels etc., which would enhance the sustainability of the project even more, and improve ship operations which today are handled onshore.
Throughout 2021, 20-30 Ramboll experts from across business units and geographies will be working on sustainable and innovative solutions for the energy island, providing the VindØ consortium with the best possible background for their bid in the upcoming tender phase to be initiated by the Danish Government.
“Being innovative, however, is not enough. When identifying the possible technical and commercially attractive solutions for the energy island, sustainability is on top of our agenda,” says Søren Løvstad Christensen, Project Manager and Chief Economist at Ramboll.
8 VindØ artifi cial
island is planned to be built in the Danish part of the North Sea
REAL TIME PROCESSING MODULE
New Zealand Multibeam Echosounder specialist ENL Group has released the latest product in their WASSP S-Series range with the updated S3 and S3r kit with new Real-time Processing Module
The new S3 builds upon previous iterations of the S3 improving both hardware and software to give amazing performance for money within the mid-range survey market.
The new WASSP S3 is claimed to be one of the world’s most cost-effective, professional survey and mapping multibeam echosounder solutions able to survey up to 10 times faster than a single-beam echosounder. It combines data from a multibeam transducer simultaneously generating a 120 degrees swath with up to 100 pings per second. This functionality now incorporates advanced signal processing from the new RPM (Real-time Processing Module) along with position, heading, motion and sound velocity to create an accurate bathymetric map meeting hydrographic survey standards such as IHO S-44 order 1b, 1a and Special Order, capable of mapping objects within 2cm depth accuracy. These new improvements make the WASSP S3 one of the worlds most cost-effective Multibeam Echosounders on the market.
The S3 includes an improved IP66 waterproof DRX processor, along with the new RPM processing module and a high performance fairing transducer perfect for pole or hull mounting.
WASSP’s own user friendly CDX remains the primary UI and interfaces with an even greater range of 3rd party software options such as BeamworX, HYPACK, EIVA, Qinsy, SonarWiz, Echoview and many more. In addition to the standard package, a range of optional licenses are available such as Backscatter, Sidescan and Water Column Targets.
“We have been using WASSP multibeam for artificial reef projects that encourage marine growth & fish life, and using WASSP allowed us to save time and money as we could use it ourselves without needing outside surveyors. The results exceeded our performance requirements and was the perfect choice for our needs”, said Nicholas Kavadis, Managing Director, Voyager Electronics.
In addition to the improvements to the S3, a fully integrated kit known as the S3r has also been released. The S3r includes an RTK INS providing very accurate position, heading, pitch, roll and heave as well as Sound velocity sensor (SVS) that can effortlessly allow survey mapping for a range of applications with IHO S-44 standards accuracy achievable.
8 The S3 includes
an improved IP66 waterproof DRX processor, along with the new RPM processing module and a high performance fairing transducer
Magnetometer low altitude effi ciency
Testing has confi rmed the Geometrics MagArrow magnetometer to be effi cient at low altitude fl ights.
SPH Engineering, developer of UgCS ground control software and solutions for industrial applications, as part of its strategy to expand its range of supported sensors, completed tests of the Geometrics MagArrow magnetometer together with a radar altimeter and True Terrain Following technology for surveys requiring extremely low altitude (1-2 meters between a sensor and surface).
Alexey Dobrovolskiy, CTO of SPH Engineering, said: “As of today, MagArrow has been typically used for surveys conducted at high altitude, like minerals prospecting or abandoned wells detection. We can confirm with confidence to UgCS and Geometrics clients that True Terrain Following and MagArrow are fully
Photo: SPH Engineering
compatible allowing using the magnetometer in additional scenarios requiring low altitude to gather high resolution data.”
Tests were conducted in Latvia to find underground infrastructure, and find magnetic anomalies under the bottom of the lake. Infrastructure detection tests were conducted at SPH Engineering’s own test
8 Geometrics MagArrow magnetometer tests
show it can be used at low altitude
ranges over known targets - different metallic pipes, barrels, and smaller metallic items.
During the tests over lake magnetic anomalies were detected at half a meter under lake bottom, water depth 1-3m. The existence of anomalies was confirmed using a low-frequency GPR system.
In terms of R&D adjustments, UgCS Industrial Solutions determined the optimal position of a radar altimeter on a drone carrying a MagArrow, which is affixed to the UAV using suspension cables.
The True Terrain Following system was fine-tuned for this application, and this simplified the workflow to refine the coordinates in the magnetic data with the help of more precise position tracks from UgCS SkyHub onboard computer.
