Press Release: OCG-Data Pilot Receives Permits, Buoy Fabrication near completion
Aix-en-Provence, France: Ocergy, Inc, announced that its pilot OCG-Data project ”Buoy with Lidar and Underwater Equipment for Ocean Resource Assessment and Characterisation of Life in the Environment (BLUE ORACLE), partly sponsored by ADEME (the French Agency for Ecological Transition) is moving forward! The French Prefect Maritime has recently granted the final permits to the French subsidiary Ocergie, SAS for the installation and operation of the OCG-Data pilot. The buoy will be deployed on the continental shelf offshore the Occitanie region, in the Mediterranean Sea within one of the Macrozones of the Mediterranean Floating Wind Tender (AO6).
Ocergy, which leads the project is joined by strategic partners, including Skyborn Renewables, offshore wind project developer; Tachysséma Développement, for the design and installation of the power management system and SCADA, for onboard instrumentation; University of Perpignan CREM – UPVD, for oversight of the bio-diversity marine studies, and Sense of life, for the sea birds tracking and analyses.
In addition, members of the scientific committee composed of CRPMEM, Ecocean, Ocean Winds, Semantic-T.S., Chorus, and Bureau Veritas, will play key roles during the project.
Ocergy has also selected most of the project major suppliers, including Brodosplit for the buoy fabrication, Euroports, for the buoy assembly and the shore base in Port-la-Nouvelle, and Vryhof for the anchor and mooring.
The buoy will be fitted with TP Product’s structural compact flanges, a first use of the technology in primary structural members in a floating environment. The buoy will use a Vaisala windcube lidar.
Christian Cermelli, President of Ocergie, SAS, said: “This key milestone was met within the project schedule, and we are extremely appreciative to the Préfet Maritime de la Méditerranée, his team and everyone involved. The project support from the various maritime organisations has been tremendous. With the fabrication well underway, the OCG-Data will soon be acquiring high resolution metocean and bio-diversity data as we start the second phase of the BLUE ORACLE project.“ This project is being supported by ADEME in the framework of the Program of investments for the future.
For more information, contact: gardoise@ocergy.com
About Ocergy
Ocergy is a technology company developing two sustainable offshore solutions:
OCG-Wind is a low-cost foundation supporting the new generation of very large offshore wind turbines. The innovative hull allows the platform to have a very light weight, a necessity to reduce LCOE. It is tailored towards ease of industrialization, to bring flexibility in fabrication and increase the use of a local supply chain in the project fabrication life cycle.
OCG-Data is an innovative multi-disciplinary ocean observer for complete offshore site assessment. It has enough footprint to host and power multiple instrumentation packages for resource and environmental characterization. Underwater biodiversity monitoring relies on the combination of restoration technologies and passive acoustic monitoring arrays. The buoy also hosts a bird and bat detection and identification system. OCG-Data provides high-quality data including ecological information for stakeholders’ engagement.
