NIVA leads EU project for sustainable energy development at sea.

The NiD4OCEAN project, funded under Horizon Europe's 'Restore our Ocean and Waters' programme, will focus on the North Sea, Baltic Sea and Western Mediterranean. The aim is to develop nature-inclusive design and nature-based solutions for offshore renewable infrastructure. The project will also promote co-creation of new designs through an ‘Innovation Challenge Series’.

– The expansion of offshore renewables is key to meet the ambitious decarbonization goals at the regional and global scales. However, this expansion may conflict with biodiversity preservation goals. NiD4OCEAN will allow us to dive into the emerging field of nature-inclusive designs for offshore renewables, particularly for offshore wind, exploring their effectivity and applicability to different European ecoregions. Moreover, the project will foster the co-creation of novel designs through the Innovation Challenge Series, says NIVA senior researcher and NiD4OCEAN project coordinator Marta Moyano.

The project, which started on 1 October 2024 and runs until 30 September 2027, has a budget of NOK 26 million and involves 13 partners from eight countries: Denmark, Germany, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Portugal and the UK.

The partners are the research institutes NIVA, Akvaplan-NIVA, Wageningen Research, Deltares and CSIC, the universities Technical University of Denmark, University of Klaipéda, the environmental non-governmental organisation North Sea Foundation, the non-profit organisation Renewables Grid Initiative, the research communication agency Science Crunchers, the certification and risk management company DNV and the energy producers ScottishPower Renewables and Equinor.

- The NiD4OCEAN project is well aligned with our Biodiversity position and represent an important effort in developing and maturing options on how to protect and restore marine habitats connected to development of offshore wind farms, says Arne Myhrvold, Senior Advisor Sustainability at Equinor.

Through transdisciplinary collaboration, the project will provide practical, context-specific solutions for policymakers, industry leaders, and marine managers. For example, the project will address the lack of policy clarity and standards on what constitutes an appropriate nature-inclusive design for a given region and how to monitor its efficiency, which is currently a major hurdle for industry and consent managers.

– DNV is excited to contribute to the NiD4OCEAN project by developing recommendations towards standards for nature-inclusive designs. Our objective is to help create trust in new solutions for nature-inclusive design, safeguarding that they work as intended and that they can be appropriately integrated with the wind farm in all phases from design to decommissioning, says Bente Pretlove, Vice President and Programme Director at DNV.

• Mapping and Innovation: Identifying existing solutions and fostering co-creation of new nature-inclusive designs and nature-based solutions for offshore renewable energy infrastructure.
• Benefit and Risk Assessment: Evaluating the biological, socio-economic, and social benefits and risks of nature-inclusive designs for offshore wind farms.
• Guidelines for Implementation: Providing science-based recommendations for the selection, deployment, and monitoring of nature-inclusive designs.
• Raising Awareness: Highlighting the importance of prioritizing solutions that benefit both biodiversity and decarbonization.

The project is part of Horizon Europe’s research programme under the “Climate, Energy, and Mobility” sub-area and aligns with NIVA’s goal of advancing the green transition through innovative, environmentally sustainable solutions.