Reliable data is needed to coordinate all activities in the North Sea and to incorporate new users and functions. For example, wind speed and wave height, but also about shipping movements and the routes of migratory birds. In the Maritime Information Service Point (MIVSP) project, Rijkswaterstaat realizes, operates and manages the physical and digital infrastructure required to collect and distribute this data. This will take place in and around the wind farms that will be constructed in the North Sea in the coming years as part of the energy transition.
Benefit from the construction of offshore wind farms
MIVSP builds masts on the platforms that transmit the generated power of windmills, to the onshore electricity grid. Sensors are installed in these masts to collect data about the North Sea. Think of nautical radars, wave height meters, wind height and wind speed meters, precipitation meters, temperature meters, bird radars and bat detectors. In addition to the platforms, the sensors are also placed on wind turbines and on buoys in the sea.
Rijkswaterstaat purchases the sensors or receives them ready-made from the owner. Thereafter, the sensors are placed in an optimal arrangement in and around the wind farms. This setup requires precision, because not every sensor works equally well at every location. In addition, the sensors can influence each other's functioning. Therefore, MIVSP tests the sensors in a realistic test setup at the Offshore Expertise Center in Stellendam and where possible also on location (testing at sea is often expensive and complicated). After installation, MIVSP takes care of management and maintenance.
More knowledge, lower costs
The data collected with the sensors is supplied to various customers, such as TenneT, the Coast Guard, KNMI, the wind farm owners and universities. They use the data for their own services, products and assets. With MIVSP's services, parties receive a joint platform to make observations in the North Sea and receive the data they need. By serving multiple parties, costs are saved, knowledge and experience are built up and the wealth of North Sea data is accessed as best as possible.
Rijkswaterstaat as a logical partner
The client for MIVSP is the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate, which is responsible for the of offshore wind energy. Rijkswaterstaat is the contractor. To save costs and build up knowledge and experience, it is smart for one central party to purchase or receive the sensors, test, install, operate and manage them. Rijkswaterstaat, as manager of the North Sea and responsible for the infrastructure of the Netherlands, is the most logical partner for this. Rijkswaterstaat has a good overview of the situation in the Netherlands, collects and shares large amounts of data every day and can easily connect the information provision at sea to the existing data networks and connections on land.