Multi-Use of Space supports the sustainable use of the sea – HWU

Multi-Use of Space supports the sustainable use of the sea – HWU

By SalM on December 5, 2020 in MUSICA News Articles, Press Release

Orkney is a relatively small chain of islands, there are bout 70 of them. Like all coastal communities, it is defined by the sea around it.

The waters of Europe are straining from cumulative impacts of population, coastal development and the urgent pressures of maintaining a constant supply of food and energy. The EU’s blue-growth policy recognizes that critical dependence on healthy oceans with tools like maritime spatial planning to support the cycle of the blue economy.

Professors from Heriot-Watt University’s International Centre for Island Technology Talk about Multi Use of Space in Orkney.

Dr Tim Noble says that marine activities such as tourism, fishing, oil, gas exploitation and renewable energy affect the marine space. The idea is to put those activities together in Multi-Use Platforms to save marine space. It also enables operators to share cost and infrastructure. Island communities often struggle for resources but Orkney is especially affected by the weather. On the other hand, there is a lot of energy potential such as wave, wind, tidal streams. They are working in very hazardous waters so they needed to learn how to safely work in this environment and are hoping to transfer this knowledge to other similar communities.

About the partner

Heriot-Watt University is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1821 as the School of Arts of Edinburgh, the world’s first mechanics’ institute, and subsequently granted university status by royal charter in 1966. It is the eighth oldest higher education institute in UK. The name Heriot-Watt was taken from Scottish inventor James Watt and Scottish philanthropist and goldsmith George Heriot. Known for its focus on science and engineering, it is one of the 39 old universities in the UK comprising the distinctive second cluster of elite universities after Oxbridge.

 

For further information please contact Graham Lynch (Project Dissemination & Communications Officer) at grahamlynch@ucc.ie.

Technical Aspects in the MUSICA Project

Technical Aspects in the MUSICA Project

By SalM on November 22, 2020 in MUSICA News Articles, Press Release

Neodyne has a large role in the design and development of the MUSICA platform. Peter from Neodyne explains details about their task of combining all the systems into one.

MUP holds Wind Turbines that are using their blades to capture wind force. They are made of very light and resilient materials and this is why they can produce energy at very low wind speeds. The blades are connected to a generator that converts wind’s kinetic energy to electricity. Further, there is a transformer that converts electricity into a usuable voltage. The sun emits energy in the forms of waves in length from short ultraviolet to long infrared waves. When the sun is shining the waves hit the surface of the solar cells. Some waves pass through the cells and some are reflected back. But a significant portion of waves are absorbed which in turn current flow. Solar cell produces just a couple of wats but combaining hundreds produce signifcant power output. The aquaculture unit is an autnomous fish farm which has an scheduled feeding process and monitoring system that ensures that fish are healthy. Desalination plant will produce fresh portable water using renewable energy. It puts sea water through the water to remove the salt.

About the partner

NeoDyne Ltd. is an Irish company founded in 1998 employing over 100 automation, electrical, instrument, business systems and validation engineers and specialists. Our business is structured as three specialisations, namely: System Integration, Power Generation & Utilities, Transmission & Distribution They supply the Pharmaceutical, Food, Beverage, Natural Gas, Oil, Electricity and Mining industries. Our key markets are for robust applications requiring innovation, very high reliability, long life and specialised know-how involving critical utilities with zero interruption tolerance. This company offers Control, Automation, Industrial Plant Information and Electrical Engineering solutions, services and systems integration. Our team is experienced in PLC, SCADA, Failsafe and Fault-tolerant PLC, DCS, BMS, Safety Systems, Industrial Data Processing, Fermenters, Chromatography Purification Systems, Sterilisers, Sterile Filling Lines, Lyophilisers, Validation, Compliance, Communications, Medium and Low Voltage, Standby and CoGen Power Generation, Gas Turbines, Diesels, Boilers, Burner Management, Natural Gas Transmission and Distribution, ESD, Fire & Gas, Fire Alarms, Fire and Explosion Suppression, Fiscal Metering of Gas and Electricity, Cathodic Protection, ATEX Compliance, Cooling Towers and Refrigeration, Softening, DIW and WFI Water Plant, Waste Water and general industrial utilities.

 

For further information please contact Graham Lynch (Project Dissemination & Communications Officer) at grahamlynch@ucc.ie.

MUSICA is extremely important to the local community and economy

MUSICA is extremely important to the local community and economy

By SalM on October 26, 2020 in MUSICA News Articles, Press Release

Last week MUSICA project organised the public engagement sessions (October 14, 2020) on developing a unique Multi-Use Platform on Oinousses that will generate electricity from the wind, waves and sun to boost local energy supply, and also produce desalinated water.

During the visit to Greece and the islands of Oinousses and Chios, after successfully organised workshops, prof. dr. Gordon Dalton, coordinator of MUSICA Project along with prof. dr. Nikitas Nikitakos visited the rector of the University of the Aegean, professor Chryssi Vitsilaki, in Lesvos, last Friday (October 16, 2020).

Dr. Dalton presented that the innovative MUSICA Project team is developing a ‘Multi-Use Platform’ that will generate electricity, produce enough desalinated water to meet the daily needs of the island and establish a fish farm.

“The Multi-Use Platform makes use of available energy resources; offers related job opportunities, and saves costs by combining activities in one space-efficient package”, said Dr. Dalton.

Prof. Chryssi Vitsilaki expressed that she is extremely proud that the University of the Aegean is a partner in the MUSICA project.

“This is one of the biggest infrastructure projects and it is extremely important to the local stakeholder community and the future economy”, explained prof. Vitsilaki.

Discussion continued about the two other Horizon2020 projects that Dr. Dalton also coordinates, RRING and GRRIP Project. “RRING (Responsible Research and Innovation Networked Globally) project seeks to make research and innovation systems everywhere more responsible, inclusive, efficient and responsive as an integral part of society and economy, and GRRIP is working on embedding sustainable Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI practices) in the marine and maritime research organisations to achieve institutional and cultural change”, explained prof. dr. Dalton.

Since she promoted gender equality and RRI in the university for over a decade, prof. Chryssi Vitsilaki had a great interest in these projects.

“I would be very keen for future collaboration projects between the coordinator from University College Cork, University of the Aegean and MUSICA partners”, concluded prof. Chryssi Vitsilaki at the end of the meeting.

 

For further information please contact Graham Lynch (Project Dissemination & Communications Officer) at grahamlynch@ucc.ie.

Public Engagement and Multi Use Platform on Oinousses and Chios

Public Engagement and Multi Use Platform on Oinousses and Chios

By SalM on October 15, 2020 in MUSICA News Articles, Press Release

As part of the MUSICA Project activities, several workshops are planned for key MUSICA stakeholders covering Multi Use Platform (MUP) and Smart Island topics. Yesterday, on the islands of Oinousses and Chios, it was our first opportunity to share MUSICA’s aims and progress with the public.

What did we learn yesterday?

This event informed islanders about how renewable energy, desalination and aquaculture can work together on one multiple-use platform. At the same time, guided activities gave participants a forum to discuss these topics; ask questions from MUSICA leadership; present ideas and concerns.

Input from community representatives in Chios and Oinousses—along with local authority, industry and research institutions—is vital to realising MUSICA’s ambitions to demonstrate how the needs of small islands everywhere (clean energy, fresh water, food, and employment) can be addressed through renewable technology using local resources. The event’s key purpose was to build links between different stakeholders and involve local people at an early stage in the Project.

What we learn from each other is shared on our website where the discussion can continue. Feedback helps us create follow-on workshops that will bring these same groups together to report on MUSICA progress and provide education and training around its benefits.

SINN Power: How to harvest energy from the different renewable energy technologies?

Multi-Use platform construction phase to pilot demo stages

What is the role of NeoDyne in the MUSICA Project? – Technical aspects

Why is AQUACULTURE such an important aspect of MUSICA – ZOE GLETCHER, AQUABIOTECH Group

Find also AquaBioTech presentation here.

Multi-Use of Space supports the sustainable use of the sea – HWU

Why is community involvement important? – ICoRSA

From Multi-Use of Space to Multi-Use Platform

Download the presentation here

Participants’ Mentimeter

Find out more about Participants’ Mentimeter

 

For further information please contact Graham Lynch (Project Dissemination & Communications Officer) at grahamlynch@ucc.ie.

Multi-Use platform construction phase to pilot demo stages

Multi-Use platform construction phase to pilot demo stages

By SalM on October 10, 2020 in MUSICA News Articles, Press Release

In crowded seas such as those around the European Union – including, for example, the Baltic Sea, the North Sea and the Mediterranean – pressures on the environment are building and space is at a premium. One idea that has been put forward to make more efficient use of the seas and minimise the footprint of human activities is offshore platforms that combine multiple uses. n principle, platforms offer efficiencies, such as maximising the amount of energy generated from one platform if different energy generation methods are used, while minimising the amount of space taken up and saving on operational and maintenance costs.

Ayoze Castro, Innovation Manager at PLOCAN talks about it’s role in the development of the Multi-Use Platform and MUSICA project. PLOCAN was created in 2007 as a public consortium between National Government of  Spain and regional Government of Canary Islands. It has been included as part of Spanish network of unique technical infrastructure in order to exploit certain competitive advantages of the region. The final goal is to be closer to the companies and the productive market to try to support innovation requirements rather than to produce basic research.

PLOCAN has land-based and naval(sea)-based facilities to support development in marine & maritime sectors. Main facility includes a dedicated marine test site, fixed off shore platform acting as ocean laboratory and coastal open ocean observatory. With this main structures they offer natural services of hosting new prototypes and technologies for conducting validation and demonstration test in real environment. PLOCAN is a governmental body that facilitates and accelerates all the operations and logistics of construction and deployment of prototypes. In particular speeding up the authorizations and permits. PLOCAN offers professional capacities with land-based facilities, specialized training programs and robust network to ensure bilateral communication between land and sea.

About the partner

The Oceanic Platform of the Canary Islands (PLOCAN) is a Research Infrastructure (RI) labeled by the ICTS (Unique Scientific and Technological Infrastructure) Spanish National Roadmap, co-funded by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities of the Spanish government and the Canary Islands government and by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) under the Operational Programme of the Canary Islands. PLOCAN is a multipurpose technical-scientific service infrastructure that provides support for research, technological development and innovation in the marine and maritime sectors, available to public and private users. PLOCAN offers both onshore and offshore experimental facilities and laboratories, operational throughout the whole year thanks to the Canary Islands excellent climatic conditions. PLOCAN also brings a broad experience in large national and EU marine/maritime projects.

 

For further information please contact Graham Lynch (Project Dissemination & Communications Officer) at grahamlynch@ucc.ie.