French offshore wind research will tackle the environment

Backed by an innovative €8.2 million R&D programme, DRACCAR will study the whole ecosystem, in particular birds, marine mammals and fish, but also wind parameters, including the structure behaviour and the movement of sediments.

“The strong support from the Normandy region and the European Union, as well as the synergies that continue to be built between the DRACCAR partners, constitute a solid foundation for the innovative research work that is being carried out,” said Herveline Gaborieau, executive director of France Energies Marines, one of the project’s supporters.

”The various field data that are being collected and the multidisciplinary nature of this programme will enable us to produce results with high added value for all the players in the offshore wind energy sector.” 

Project scope

DRACCAR intends to respond to the need for long-term acquisition of field data with the instrumentation of a measuring mast located off Fécamp.

This offshore research platform is coupled with a large-scale multidisciplinary R&D programme with an initial budget of €8.2m. The programme, called DRACCAR, aims to improve understanding of the interactions between offshore wind energy and the environment, to optimise the design of wind turbines and to co-construct a permanent observation network of the maritime seafronts.

Some of the topics to be researched include marine megafauna – mainly mammals, fish, and birds – to characterise the use of the area and assess the associated effects, a study of fishery resources and hydrosedimentary processes.

This data exploitation will be carried out within the framework of an innovative multidisciplinary R&D programme with an initial budget of €8.2 million, of which €4.9 million is supported by the ERDF and €950,000 by the Normandy Region.

France Energies Marines, the French institute for energy transition dedicated to offshore wind and ocean energy, will ensure the overall coordination of the project, the steering of the work carried out on marine megafauna and wind, the co-steering of the ecosystem approaches, and will contribute scientifically to all the topics addressed.

The project is also supported by the Institute for the Energy Transition dedicated to offshore renewable energies, the Universities of Caen and Le Havre Normandy, INSA Rouen Normandy and the Normandy Region.