LafargeHolcim claims the scour protection would be the only structural solution to address the ecological impacts of offshore wind turbines on the marine environment, enabling a more sustainable industry and healthier oceans.
Offshore wind turbines require massive concrete foundations to anchor them in place. Hydrodynamic forces can create large holes around foundations, necessitating scour protections. Scour protections are units designed to protect sediments from being swept away by currents, and are often installed in a mound to protect the turbines' foundations.
According to LafargeHolcim, this kind of concrete infrastructure has a large impact on sensitive benthic, or seabed ecosystems.
The partners will set out to manufacture a fully-structural concrete scour protection unit that facilitates the growth of marine organisms, while meeting all industry standards for stabilising the seabed.
The three-year R&D collaboration includes a large-scale pilot project to evaluate the ecological performance of the innovative units in an offshore environment before implementation in full-scale installations.
Econcrete Tech co-founder Dr. Ido Sella says: “Offshore energy production is a rapidly growing market worldwide, and while there are certainly benefits of using renewable energy, there is also an impact of these giant structures on the sensitive underwater ecosystems. We view our collaboration with LafargeHolcim in the US as key to minimising this impact.”
Josep Maset, vice president, commercial excellence at LafargeHolcim in the US, says: “For LafargeHolcim in the US, we recognise that there are many paths to achieving our net zero commitment, and most require innovative partnerships and out-of-the-box thinking. The work we’re doing with Econcrete Tech is a notable example of searching for solutions that enable increased use of renewable energy in an environmentally responsible way.”
This project began in May and is funded by a grant from the Binational Industrial Research and Development Energy programme.
