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Nathalie Mezza-Garcia from Blue Frontiers has joined our team during two and a half weeks and wrote an amazing article about her experiences!

Moreover, she perfectly addresses how we, at Blue21, are developing a design strategy for seasteads to help restore the marine environment underneath the platforms, going beyond sustainability. Or as our Bart Roeffen (lead architect of the Floating Island Project) states:

“We need to go from sustainability to restoration because sustainability is not sustainable.”

Please read Nathalie’s full article here!

On Wednesday, March 7th, Karina Czapiewska will represent Blue21 during the MARIN seminar on ‘The Floating Future’ where she will be presenting on the development of floating cities.

As stated on MARIN’s website, there is an increasing interest in floating mega islands, to be used as energy islands, floating ports, farms or floating cities. First research has shown that in view of large mooring forces and strict motion requirements, designing these islands can be quite a challenge.

During the seminar ‘The Floating Future’ MARIN want to address the different applications within specific projects and the possible start of an open innovation for the development of floating islands. Besides attendants will have the unique opportunity to experience the floating island tests at MARIN!

Waterschap Rivierland, the water authority of the Dutch provincies of Zuid-Holland, Gelderland, Noord-Brabant and Utrecht, has joined forces with Dutch companies Blue21 and Hakkers NV, and with the Photovoltaic Materials and Devices (PVMD) unit of Netherlands’ Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) to develop a new floating PV technology dubbed Innozowa.

The consortium, which is also being financially supported by the government-run Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), aims to develop a flexible design of floating solar panels on inland waters and make optimal use of the available surface area, “all at a competitive price”.

Waterschap Rivierland said that the water-rich Netherlands, which has around 52,000 hectares of shallow inland water, offers a huge potential for floating PV applications.

The first pilot project, the agency went on to say, will be implemented at a water reservoir in Weurt, near the town of Nijmegen in the province of Gelderland. “With the results of this pilot project, we expect to have sufficient data and experience to further scale up the plan,” Waterschap Rivierland stressed.

Construction on Netherlands’ first floating PV plant started in September. The project is being developed at the port of Rotterdam by Dutch water management agency Rijkswaterstaat, which is part of the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment, and Port of Rotterdam Authority.

Rijkswaterstaat announced in March it intended to make water surfaces and other land under its control available for the installation of PV and other renewable energy power plants.

Please read the latest blog of our Rutger de Graaf-van Dinther on his LinkedIn-account: the oceans as solution space for human and ecological progress – 7 key factors.

Dutch Water Authority Rivierenland, Blue21, Hakkers BV and TU Delft recently signed an agreement to collectively realise a revolutionary method for generating solar energy on water.

The project operates under the name INNOZOWA, which is derived from the Dutch product description: innovatieve (innovative) zon-pv (Solar PV; solar panels) op (on) water (water). The intention is to develop a flexible design of floating solar panels on inland waters and make optimal use of the available surface area, all at a competitive price.

Moreover, within INNOZOWA, opportunities are examined to create added value for local ecology.

Further infomation can be found at the INNOZOWA website.