NORTH Sea maritime spatial planning and routing got a lot more interesting last week when plans were revealed for a new island, or islands, to be built there, along with what could be the largest offshore wind turbine farms ever.
The deal is set to be signed next week and is unprecedented in scale. Three countries, Denmark, Netherlands and Germany are involved through Energienet (DK) and TenneT (NL and GE).
Central to the plan is the construction of one or more islands, so called Power Link Islands with interconnections to surrounding countries, in the middle of the North Sea on the Dogger Bank, so that a series of wind farms can then be connected and the power, up to 1000,000 MW, transmitted over direct lines ashore.
Dogger Bank is located in the very centre of the North Sea. The power generated will feed clean energy to the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Great Britain, Norway and Belgium.
The development of such islands brings to the fore issues related to vessel routing and operations around the North Sea; issues which link directly to effective fleet management. The more the marine domain is used in such ways, the more complicated smart ship management will become.
The Power Island and associated wind turbine arrays are part of Europe’s plans towards meeting is commitment under the Paris Agreement of the UNFCCC.
More details about the project can be found here.
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