Analysis of the economic impact confirmed that the Green & Blue concept in the
Mediterranean has a strong economic case for development (TROPOS 2014d) and a
virtual environmental impact assessment showed that the concept has minimal
negative environmental impact (TROPOS 2014e).
12.4 Summary
Moving offshore involves a lot of advantages such as reduced competition with
other activities compared to the near shore zone, optimum culture conditions in
term of water quality and absence of pathogens, and rapid dispersal and dilution of
any effluents to the wide open ocean (i.e. less negative impact on the environment;
Lu et al. 2014). Moving offshore, however, also goes along with a major challenge,
namely the suitable technology. Weather and wave conditions are often harsh in the
open ocean and deep waters make the fixation of aquaculture facilities a difficult
task. Moreover, the distance to the coast significantly complicates logistic service
and supply, and operation and maintenance. A solution to overcome these problems
and obstacles is represented by the TROPOS multi-use platform approach. The
floating structure was especially designed for offshore conditions and allows for use
in deep waters. As the annual offshore wind energy capacity will experience an
average net increase of 21.5% every year until 2020, the combination of marine
aquaculture farming with offshore wind energy exploitation seems obvious. The
Green & Blue concept intends to integrate an offshore wind farm with aquaculture
facilities for fish and algae, so as to create synergies among the activities: (i) Since
many components of the system need energy (e.g. workshop, laboratory, feeding
unit, etc.), aquaculture can achieve high levels of autonomy when combined with
the wind turbines triggering the development of the offshore aquaculture further;
(ii) Placing the cages between the turbines will save space and mooring lines;
(iii) Since maintenance tasks have to be provided in a frequent basis for both fish
and wind farm, the service infrastructure can be shared; (iv) Based on this, having a
common accommodation unit on the platform, downtime periods will be decreased
for both industries (since there will be permanently located personnel providing
continuous inspections and routine maintenance tasks, and able to respond fast in
case needed). Apart from this, sharing of divers and diving infrastructure, logistics,
maintenance tools, workshops, environmental monitoring, etc. will reduce the
service/maintenance costs.
12.5 Outlook
Multi-purpose offshore platforms are designed to incorporate modules of several
compatible activities, and thus, provides the opportunity for the aquaculture
industry to operate viably and profitably in offshore sites. Since mooring is one of
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N. Papandroulakis et al.
Mediterranean has a strong economic case for development (TROPOS 2014d) and a
virtual environmental impact assessment showed that the concept has minimal
negative environmental impact (TROPOS 2014e).
12.4 Summary
Moving offshore involves a lot of advantages such as reduced competition with
other activities compared to the near shore zone, optimum culture conditions in
term of water quality and absence of pathogens, and rapid dispersal and dilution of
any effluents to the wide open ocean (i.e. less negative impact on the environment;
Lu et al. 2014). Moving offshore, however, also goes along with a major challenge,
namely the suitable technology. Weather and wave conditions are often harsh in the
open ocean and deep waters make the fixation of aquaculture facilities a difficult
task. Moreover, the distance to the coast significantly complicates logistic service
and supply, and operation and maintenance. A solution to overcome these problems
and obstacles is represented by the TROPOS multi-use platform approach. The
floating structure was especially designed for offshore conditions and allows for use
in deep waters. As the annual offshore wind energy capacity will experience an
average net increase of 21.5% every year until 2020, the combination of marine
aquaculture farming with offshore wind energy exploitation seems obvious. The
Green & Blue concept intends to integrate an offshore wind farm with aquaculture
facilities for fish and algae, so as to create synergies among the activities: (i) Since
many components of the system need energy (e.g. workshop, laboratory, feeding
unit, etc.), aquaculture can achieve high levels of autonomy when combined with
the wind turbines triggering the development of the offshore aquaculture further;
(ii) Placing the cages between the turbines will save space and mooring lines;
(iii) Since maintenance tasks have to be provided in a frequent basis for both fish
and wind farm, the service infrastructure can be shared; (iv) Based on this, having a
common accommodation unit on the platform, downtime periods will be decreased
for both industries (since there will be permanently located personnel providing
continuous inspections and routine maintenance tasks, and able to respond fast in
case needed). Apart from this, sharing of divers and diving infrastructure, logistics,
maintenance tools, workshops, environmental monitoring, etc. will reduce the
service/maintenance costs.
12.5 Outlook
Multi-purpose offshore platforms are designed to incorporate modules of several
compatible activities, and thus, provides the opportunity for the aquaculture
industry to operate viably and profitably in offshore sites. Since mooring is one of
372
N. Papandroulakis et al.