MARIN tests first floating mega island

Image source: MARIN

In co-operation with Blue21, MARIN has carried out some impressive tests last week!
Please read MARIN’s press release herebelow:

MARIN tests first floating mega island

Floating ports and cities possible solutions to sea level rise and overcrowded cities.

Last week MARIN (Maritime Research Institute) tested an innovative concept for a floating
mega island. The island comprises 87 large floating triangles that are flexibility connected to
one another. Together they form a flexible floating island that can be as large as 1 to 5 km in
cross-section.

Olaf Waals, project manager and the concept developer: “As sea level rises, cities become
overcrowded and more activities are carried out at sea, raising the dikes and reclaiming land
from the seas are perhaps no longer an effective solution. An innovative alternative that fits
with the Dutch maritime tradition is floating ports and cities.”

Floating mega islands offer future-proof living and working space at sea for:
• Developing, generating, storing, and maintaining sustainable energy (offshore wind,
tidal energy, wave energy and floating solar panels);
• Loading and transhipping cargo in coastal areas where there is little infrastructure;
• Cultivating food, such as seaweed and fish;
• Building houses and recreation close to the water.

These types of solutions are part of the Blue Future in which the seas and oceans (70% of
the earth’s surface area) are used sustainably.

The technological challenges are enormous. How do we develop floating mega structures
that are strong and safe enough to withstand winds and currents? How can these systems
be connected together and to the seabed? What is the extent of an island’s motion, and
what effect does this have on the people who live and work on the island? How can we
organise traffic and transport?

But there are also ecological issues. What is the effect of a large floating community on the
water under and around it? How can we make the system cyclic in terms of water, energy,
raw materials and waste?

MARIN is carrying out this research using computer simulations and model tests in its
Offshore Basin (40 x 40 m) in which wind, waves and currents can be simulated at scale.