Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English en
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS

BLUE ENERGY OFFSHORE INSTALLATION ACCELERATOR

Project description

Solving Europe’s offshore energy dilemma

In Europe, the push for renewable energy is obstructed by limited land availability and community opposition to onshore wind and solar installations. This poses a challenge to the EU’s ambitious Green Deal objectives. In this context, the EU-funded BLUE-X project will unlock the vast potential of blue renewable energy sources. Offshore wind, solar, waves, tides and currents offer a promising solution, but their upscaling is hindered by costly and time-consuming surveys. BLUE-X, a Copernicus-based initiative, revolutionises decision-making in offshore energy projects. By harnessing Earth observation and MetOcean data in a cloud-based network, it streamlines planning, construction and operation phases. This approach aligns with the European Green Deal, advancing climate ambitions while ensuring clean, affordable and secure energy.

Objective

Key principles of the Green Deal are to prioritise energy efficiency, develop a power sector based largely on renewable resources, to secure an affordable EU energy supply and to have a fully integrated, interconnected digitalised EU energy market. However, renewable energy scale up in Europe faces increasing resistance due to limitations in applicable land area and the willingness of local communities to have wind or solar parks close by. One possibility to resolve this issue is the usage of offshore space. Blue renewable energy sources such as offshore (floating) wind, floating solar (FPV), waves, tides and currents have a high and still unused potential to be explored. This is of particular importance in view of the current energy crisis and changing energy policy. For all offshore technologies, lengthy and expensive MetOcean, geophysical and environmental campaigns are needed, which slow down the upscaling of offshore renewables. The proposed Blue Energy Offshore Installation Accelerator (BLUE-X) will contribute to the Green Deal objectives and its related policies, in particular with regard to increasing the EU’s climate ambition for 2030 and 2050, supplying clean, affordable and secure energy, mitigating natural hazards and preserving and restoring ecosystems and biodiversity. BLUE-X is an innovative Copernicus based solution for optimising and accelerating decision making for blue renewable energy projects in all phases, from planning to construction, operation and decommissioning. The heart of this solution is a cloud-based IT network of relevant Earth observation and MetOcean data streams that are combined in decision support tools for each phase. As a result, the planning and construction phase can be significantly optimised, thereby reducing costs, and required time to full operation. BLUE-X will be available and showcased for all key offshore energy domains for some of the most important European offshore projects to date but can be applied anywhere.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

Keywords

Programme(s)

Topic(s)

Funding Scheme

HORIZON-IA - HORIZON Innovation Actions

See all projects funded under this funding scheme

Call for proposal

(opens in new window) HORIZON-EUSPA-2022-SPACE

See all projects funded under this call

Coordinator

EOMAP GMBH & CO KG
Net EU contribution
€ 868 875,00
Address
SCHLOSSHOF 4
82229 Seefeld
Germany
SME
Yes
Region
Bayern Oberbayern Starnberg
Activity type
Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments)
Links
Total cost
€ 1 241 250,00

Participants (6)