Win@Sea, a new collaboration between Vattenfall and Danish universities and companies, will investigate how to produce offshore wind power and sustainable food – all while improving the marine environment and biodiversity in the same marine area.

Renewable energy and improved marine environment go hand in hand

How can fossil-free offshore wind power, sustainable mussels – and seaweed be produced in the same marine area? And what effects does it have on the marine environment and biodiversity? This will be elucidated in a unique collaboration between Danish universities and companies. The project will take place from 2023 to 2026.

It is obvious to combine offshore wind farms with the production of seaweed and mussels, but the energy companies also focus on the most efficient operation of the wind farms.

The project has been named WIN@sea, which is an abbreviation of “Wind Energy and Nature-based solutions integrated at sea”.

There are no easy solutions when you grow seaweed and mussels at sea. Depth, conditions at the bottom of the sea, currents and waves vary. Thus, the cultivation systems must therefore be tailored to fit the local conditions. In WIN@sea, the company Kerteminde Seafarm, together with the researchers involved in the project, will study which systems that work best in the exposed marine area near Kriegers Flak, where the depth is more than 20 metres and where the waves can be up to 6 metres high. 

Facts:

• WIN@sea is supported by approx. DKK 18.5 million. The VELUX FOUNDATION supports the project with DKK 5 million, the AAGE V. JENSEN NATURE FOUNDATION supports activities related to biodiversity and communication with DKK 2.5 million, and the EU supports the project with DKK 11 million via the lighthouse project OLAMUR.
• The activities will take place in the period 2023-2026 at Scandinavia’s largest wind farm, Kriegers Flak, which is located approx. 15-40 kilometres east of Møn.
• WIN@sea will prepare proposals for guidelines for the authorities to use in the future in connection with the establishment of various operations at sea.
• WIN@sea will map animal and algae life on wind turbines and erosion control structures at the wind turbines at Kriegers Flak and compare it with the fauna and flora on natural reefs in the area to find out how offshore wind farms affect biodiversity.
• The project will also examine how the offshore wind farm can be used as a platform for measuring equipment that can contribute to better monitoring of the marine environment. This includes, among other things, measurement of power, waves, salinity and temperature, but also the development of equipment that can count the prevalence of jellyfish.
• The results of WIN@sea will be disseminated widely through i.e. exhibitions and teaching at the Kattegatcentre, involvement of citizens in test fishing and participation in events such as Denmark’s Political Festival and the People’s Festival of Nature.
• WIN@sea is part of the EU lighthouse project OLAMUR, which also concerns combining offshore wind farms with, among other things, food production within a so-called multi-use concept.