Offshore Wind Turbine Ocergy Will Launch Its Connected Buoy To Collect Environmental Data

The first connected buoy was created with the goal of gathering data on marine biodiversity (both underwater and above the water) and geophysics (currents, winds, etc.). ), which is currently being assembled on the new wind energy terminal in the Port-The New (Aude) port.

For SEMOP Port-La Nouvelle, Euroports oversaw the assembly of the buoy's assembly operations. The buoy is 10 meters high, 30 meters in diameter, and weighs 45 tonnes. OCG-Data, as it is known, is devoted to the operation of offshore wind farms and will provide the project developers, in this case for upcoming industrial farms in the Mediterranean, with the knowledge they need.

Its goal is to significantly enhance the evaluation of marine resources and biodiversity to make it easier to comprehend, safeguard, and restore ecosystems as part of the deployment of offshore wind farms. In fact, two pilot farms will be built on the Aude coasts off Gruissan (EolMed project led by Qair) and Leucate-Le Barcarès (Floating Wind Turbines project in the Gulf of Lion, led by Engie Green), pending the construction of a commercial wind farm, whose request for proposals, which was issued almost a year ago, should deliver the contractor by the end of the year.

The equipment was created by a group of Occitani businessmen and academics with the help of the Franco-American company Ocergy, which specializes in the development of offshore wind power solutions. The group also includes the University of Perpignan CREM-UPVD, the Montpellier company Ecocéan, Tachyssema, and Sens of Life. Read moreStart for commercial floating wind turbines in the Mediterranean Anchored at sea within 15 days. Ocergy was founded at the end of 2019 and is based in both California and Aix-en-Provence, even though all 28 of its employees are currently working remotely and will likely be fifty by the end of the year, according to Dominique Roddier, the company's president and CEO.

Within the next seven or eight years, we want to be one of the major players in the floating wind energy industry. As of right now, we have two products under development: the OCG-Data buoy and the highly industrialized OCG-Wind solution for building floating wind turbines.

The initial OCG-Data was created in Croatia, disassembled, shipped to Port-la-Nouvelle, and put back together. Our goal is to commercialize this design. Depending on the weather, it should take a fortnight for the buoy to be anchored at sea, about thirty kilometers from the coast.

Responding to impact studies This highly connected buoy was installed in June 2019 15 kilometers off the coast of Aude, following the installation of Ecocéan's BoB buoy, which was "built and designed by the same team as the OCG-Data buoy, the two being complementary," according to Ecocéan president Gilles Lecaillon. Read about the BoB buoy, which monitors biodiversity near floating wind turbines and will remain anchored until June 2023. "Following the good results on the BoB buoy, which will remain anchored until June 2023, Ocergy has designed this buoy which has the same functions but which is completely connected," he continues.

The divers had to travel to BoB to investigate because it lacked sensors. Given the stunning biodiversity that has been seen in wind farms, she has previously shown that they might play a biological role.

In order to respond to the impact studies that the government requested from the project manager, Dominique Roddier explains that "our ambition is to provide environmental data 30 kilometers offshore, in the area where the commercial offshore wind farm will be located. , with details on bird flight heights, bird species, bird populations, and immigration.

This buoy has a ten-year lifespan. On projects in the future in which we hope to be involved, the BoB buoy might be used first, followed by the OCG-Data buoy, or an OCG-Data buoy might be placed in the middle of several BoB buoys on large parks. The OCG-Data buoy, which is linked to the Starlink Connected constellation, is covered in sensors that gather data and send it over the Starlink satellite constellation, which is owned by Elon Musk.

According to Dominique Roddier, "We are the first to install Starlink offshore.". On the buoy, the raw data is first processed before being sent to the scientists via Starlink.

Additionally, the buoy, which provides 10 kW of battery-generated power, is energy self-sufficient, making it possible to operate a radar or a lidar. A grant from Ademe helped to support the development of this buoy, which was paid for by Ocergy.

With the promise of an innovative environmental added value that is beneficial to marine biodiversity, it is intended to be proposed during upcoming calls for tenders for offshore wind projects in France or internationally. L'.

In fact, two pilot farms will be built on the Aude coasts off Gruissan (EolMed project led by Qair) and Leucate-Le Barcarès (Floating Wind Turbines project in the Gulf of Lion, led by Engie Green), pending the construction of a commercial wind farm, whose request for proposals, which was issued almost a year ago, should deliver the contractor by the end of the year.