Blue Growth Farm project
The development of multi-use sea platforms concept has become one of the EU’s most interesting and ambitious projects in order to ensure the integrated, sustainable and ecological exploitation of open sea resources. In particular, a suitable combination of aquaculture facility and offshore renewables and the application of the right technical knowledge are key in achieving sustainable exploitation of marine resources, in support of the growing global demand for seafood and energy from renewables.
The aim of the Blue Growth Farm project is then to produce advanced industrial knowledge with a fully integrated & efficient offshore multipurpose floating platform, which provides a central protected pool to host automated aquaculture system, capable of producing high quality fish, as well as a large storage and deck areas to host a commercial 10 MW wind turbine and a number of wave energy converters (WEC). The platform results from the suitable assembly of low-cost, corrosion-resistance, low-maintenance concrete caissons modules. Relevant R&D challenges are addressed in the project with the specific strategy to design and test solutions on an outdoor physical prototype and then obtain essential feedback to enhance the full-scale design projection.
In July 2021, the dynamic power cable was successfully connected to the floating platform of The Blue Growth Farm project (GA No. 774426) in Reggio Calabria (Italy). This was the first time that DITREL’s KONEKTA2 (1kV) connector had been used in real conditions. DITREL, TECNALIA and CDA actively participated in the project under the supervision of BUREAU VERITAS and with the support of the Natural Ocean Engineering Laboratory.
The maneuver began with the deployment of the pre-terminated dynamic cable on the beach and its transport to the vicinity of the platform. The cable was then laid on the seabed and finally the subsea connection was made from the platform itself. Once the dynamic cable had been laid subsea, there was no manipulation of the connector by divers, support vessels or cranes.
