TROPOS
Modular Multi-use Deep Water Offshore Platform Harnessing and Servicing Mediterranean, Subtropical and Tropical Marine and Maritime Resources
While availability of space on land is already limited, it is especially restricted and acute
in coastal regions, hence the increasing interest in offshore areas. The TROPOS Project
develops the design and considers location options for floating modular Multi-use
Offshore Platforms integrating a broad range of specific activities from different sectors.
The innovative platform is adapted to deep waters and enables integrated exploitation of
oceanic resources (including maritime transport, energy, aquaculture, and leisure), with
a focus on tropical, subtropical and Mediterranean areas. |
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The TROPOS project has a multi-disciplinary
nature and represents a significant challenge in
terms of standardizing approaches and methodologies
since it puts together many different
sectors. Thus, the TEAL (Transport, Energy,
Aquaculture and Leisure) sectors are being integrated
into different conceptual modules and
scenarios, highlighting three main concepts: 'Sustainable Production Concept', 'Green & Blue Concept' and 'Leisure Island Concept'. At the moment, the project has also designed the platform central unit, which can be used for | three different models of platforms in three different
locations: Canary Islands, Crete (Greece)
and Taiwan. From the economical point of view,
a deployment strategy for multi-use offshore
platforms is covering several aspects: project
objectives, factors in- and excluded, components
to be incorporated in the TROPOS platform,
and a scenario for the deployment of
a multi-use platform outlining final deployment
targets. From the start of the TROPOS conceptual
design, environmental and socio-economic
aspects are studied and fully integrated to
ensure that sustainability is part and parcel of |
the project. As the first step, a thorough scoping
of possible positive and negative impacts
including synergies and cumulative impacts has
been performed. A literature study is on-going,
focusing on potentially significant impacts,
mitigation and monitoring options useful for
TROPOS. Finally, a comparison of single-use
versus multi-use platforms will be developed
and guidelines prepared so that investors know
which environmental aspects to address. |
With a view to overcome TROPOS diversity,
the project work package: 'Geographic
and Module Benchmarking and Decision
Methodology' (already completed) has provided
a common decision methodology based
on GIS (Geographical Information System) and
a thorough analysis of the main constraints and
synergies between platform components for
a quantitative evaluation of the specifications of
each of the TEAL components. At the same time,
the design of the platforms presents an iterative
process which simultaneously considers numerous
interrelated factors resulting in a dynamic
process. TROPOS is also establishing close links
with the MERMAID and H2OCEAN projects funded
under 'The Ocean of Tomorrow' topic in order
to enhance complementarities and synergies. |
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