Background
In recent years, marine environmental monitoring programs have been set up to assess the impact of marine renewable energy structures such as offshore wind projects and to optimize their design.
The requirements of environmental measures with respect to marine renewable energy infrastructure (accuracy and stability over time) are still at an early stage where researchers ‘materials’ and ‘structures’ need to work more closely with metrological scientists to both to measure the impact of the technologies on the environment, and to evaluate the impact of the marine environment on the technologies (corrosion, marine growth, …).
Scientific advances and innovation
Degradation models of offshore energy systems are sensitive to the quality of input data.
As a result, the marine renewable energy industry expects robust measurement protocols and quantification of uncertainties to better predict the aging of offshore structures.
Key parameters such as temperature, salinity and chlorophyll A are among the important environmental variables used to evaluate the marine growth phenomenon on offshore structures. However, measurements of these parameters encounter problems related to data consistency and long-term comparability. Currently, EMPIR project submission frameworks have identified that efforts are needed to ensure complete metrological consistency of measurements, to harmonize measurement procedures and instrument calibration methodologies, and to provide good reference materials.
The TOCCME project aims to develop traceable and validated methods for measuring data trends on seawater parameters such as salinity, temperature, conductivity, pH, dissolved oxygen and chlorophyll A, as well as measurement protocols with uncertainties lower than the natural variation of the parameters.
The project will create and validate new reference documents for the measurement of physico-chemical parameters of seawater. A protocol for the calibration and routine control of field sensors of the variable will also be established and tested. In addition, reference standards for in situ measurements of Chlorophyll A will be defined and tested.
The traceability of the parameter records will allow the combination of databases of different users, which is currently hampered by the use of non-harmonized calibration practices.
Expected technical and economic impact
Degradation models of offshore energy systems, based on in situ data acquisition, are set up to predict, optimize and therefore reduce the cost of their maintenance (corrosion, diffusion mechanisms, marine growth).
Key project milestones
- 04/07/2018 - Launch meeting
- July 2021 - Project closure
