The hottest ocean ranch offshore wind power is mor

"Ocean ranch + offshore wind power" is more than an idea

associate researcher of the South China Sea Institute of Oceanography, Chinese Academy of Sciences. The research direction is marine environmental pollution assessment and ecological restoration and protection. It mainly studies and explores the material circulation path and migration and transformation law of nutrient elements in coastal and offshore marine environment under human interference, so as to find out the ecological protection and restoration measures for marine ecological environment pollution problems such as eutrophication and red tide. In 2017, he was selected into the environmental resources trial advisory expert pool of Guangdong Higher People's court and was one of the first 35 members of the environmental protection expert group of Guangdong Higher People's court. In 2018, he was elected to the Guangzhou wetland protection expert committee to provide advice on wetland resource assessment, wetland protection and restoration

Guangdong is rich in marine wind resources and has unique advantages in developing offshore wind power. The Guangdong offshore wind power development plan (year) (Revision) clearly states that by the end of 2020, the construction of offshore wind power with an installed capacity of more than 12million kW will be started, of which more than 2million kW will be completed and put into operation

as one of the persons in charge of the environmental impact assessment of Guangdong's early offshore wind power projects, Dr. Yue Weizhong, an associate researcher of the South China Sea Institute of Oceanography, Chinese Academy of Sciences (hereinafter referred to as "the South China Sea Institute"), found that there was a fish accumulation phenomenon in the pile foundation of the wind farm on the basis of collecting and studying a large number of relevant data of wind farms at home and abroad, so he came up with a bold idea in November 2017: whether it could be combined with the construction of marine pastures in Guangdong Artificial reefs are planned to be put into operation, and marine pastures are built in the sea area of wind farms

over the past year, this idea has coincided with some marine ranch research experts. Shandong Province has even launched a pilot project for the integrated development of marine ranch and offshore wind power. At present, Yue Weizhong is in contact with the owners of some wind farm projects, wind power engineering design units, ocean ranch design units, and underwater artificial intelligence monitoring units to carry out technical discussion, docking, and feasibility demonstration of the concept. Ocean and Fisheries interviewed Dr. yueweizhong about the feasibility and possible problems of "ocean ranch + offshore wind power"

theory

wind turbine pile foundation is similar to "artificial reef"

"'ocean pasture + offshore wind power 'has not been studied in specific papers in China, but at present, some experts have realized this concept." Yue Weizhong said that in fact, due to the relative lack of traditional energy in Europe, offshore wind power developed earlier. After consulting relevant research literature, it was found that some French wind turbines can gather cod, mackerel and other fish under the pile foundation

Yue Weizhong said that from a scientific point of view, after the offshore wind power is put into operation, the pile foundation actually plays a role similar to the artificial reef gathering fish. This can be comprehensively verified from the hydrodynamics of the wind farm area, the effect of nutrient concentration and the improvement level of primary productivity. Offshore wind farms make the distribution characteristics of seawater quality factors, especially nutrients, affected by physical, chemical and biological processes such as hydrodynamic force, adsorption and analysis, oxidation-reduction, consumption of phytoplankton, etc. when the water flows through pile foundations and semi submersibles, the upstream surface will produce upwelling. With the upwelling, the bottom nutrients will be fully exchanged with the surface seawater, and the nutrients will be significantly improved, such as nitrate nitrogen, ammonia nitrogen, chemical oxygen demand Phosphate, total phosphorus, etc. This will promote the growth of various phytoplankton and improve the primary productivity of the sea area, so as to attract zooplankton, swimming organisms and fish to come for bait. In addition, it will also attract seabirds and other hunting organisms, forming a highly complex food chain

Yue Weizhong pointed out that the back flow surface will produce back vortex, and most fish like to live in the vortex area with slow velocity, especially when avoiding strong currents. In addition, eddy currents can also cause physical aggregation of plankton, crustaceans and fish. "Therefore, the structure and function of offshore wind power pile foundation can provide a good habitat, shelter and spawning place for marine fish, shellfish and algae, which is equivalent to an 'artificial reef'." Yue Weizhong said

advantages

maximize the utilization of marine resources

Yue Weizhong briefly described the preliminary idea of building marine pastures in the wind farm area: use the underwater pile foundation of offshore wind farms as a mooring foundation, build suitable artificial reefs on this pile foundation, and form a "New Composite Marine pastures platform", so as to protect and proliferate fishery resources and improve the water environment, that is, "building nests to attract Phoenix" and "building reefs to attract fish". "Ocean ranch + offshore wind power" is an ecological restoration scheme, which can not only produce clean electricity in the wind farm, but also provide a nutritious, healthy and safe living environment for marine organisms in the lower sea area of the wind farm area

will offshore wind power affect the survival, habitat and reproduction of organisms in marine pastures? In this regard, Yue Weizhong said that there has not been a long-term follow-up study. The formulation of technical standards and norms must be compatible with China's current economic and technological development level to avoid high costs, and it is not easy to draw a conclusion, "At present, one of the common instruments in our laboratory is the tensile testing machine. The main effects of the tensile testing machine are the noise and vibration when the wind turbine rotates and the electromagnetic radiation of submarine cables. However, the situation in each sea area is different and cannot be generalized. For example, in the South China Sea, there are strong winds and waves, and a certain degree of water depth will also shield part of the noise. Maybe the noise generated by offshore wind power is close to the natural wind sound when it reaches the seabed. For It is within the tolerable range for marine organisms that inhabit the seabed. "

"proceeding from the purpose of using the sea scientifically, civilly, ecologically and turning waste into treasure, the integration of offshore wind power and the construction of marine pastures can reduce the impact of the development and use of sea areas on marine ecology and fishery resources, and maximize the utilization of sea resources." Yue Weizhong said, "the sea area that confirms the right to develop offshore wind power is exclusive within the whole wind farm area, and we should actively explore the three-dimensional utilization of marine resources. The State encourages the maximization of resource utilization and the use of sea in three-dimensional space. The idea of 'offshore wind power + marine pasture' is consistent with this general direction."

approach

joint pilot study of "politics, industry, education, research and economics"

Yue Weizhong believes that "offshore wind power + marine pasture" can be led by the government to form a pilot research project, which can be piloted in the areas where wind farms are concentrated in the coastal waters of eastern Guangdong or Yangjiang, and carried out long-term follow-up monitoring and research. After it is determined to be effective, it can be combined with leisure fisheries and marine tourism. "The pilot project of 'ocean ranch + offshore wind power' requires contiguous wind farms. Because the area is large enough, it is easier to form a relatively stable ecosystem with strong anti-interference ability, which is conducive to the material flow and energy cycle within the system, and is also convenient for later development and management. Technically, it is best to achieve unified monitoring, unified management, and contiguous research." Yue Weizhong said

Yue Weizhong believes that this is a project worthy of study, and it is most appropriate to be led by the government, "because enterprises have economic benefits, scholars or scientific researchers engaged in environmental research are more concerned about environmental benefits, while for the government, they will comprehensively consider economic benefits. They have reached the principle of long-term cooperation with our company, the unification of environmental benefits and social benefits, and do a good job of balance and consideration." At the same time, this research involves many fields, such as marine biology, marine environment, marine acoustics, offshore wind power, marine pasture, etc. to start this research project, we need the resonance, participation and cooperation of many parties

as for the difficulties that the project may face, Yue Weizhong pointed out that "ocean ranch + offshore wind power" involves multiple management departments, which is a problem in connection. "At present, the management of ocean RANCH project belongs to the Provincial Department of agriculture and rural affairs, and the approval right of offshore wind power sea area belongs to the Provincial Department of natural resources. Finally, whether it can be implemented can be evaluated by the Provincial Department of ecological environment."

prospects

introduce market capital to develop leisure fisheries

"in the later stage of the project, leisure fisheries can be developed and private financial capital can be leveraged." Yue Weizhong said that just like the construction of marine pastures in Shandong, it can attract enterprises to build marine tourism platforms. On the one hand, it can carry out proliferation and release, resource and environmental monitoring, and on the other hand, it can carry out leisure fishing or diving tourism. "Guangdong is not suitable to be a fixed tourism platform because of more extreme weather, but it can explore other development modes according to sea conditions."

Yue Weizhong stressed that in the later development process, we should also grasp the development intensity and environmental protection issues, such as controlling the number of passengers and increasing environmental protection control measures, so as not to cause marine environmental pollution, which is contrary to the original intention of building marine pastures. "We can't ignore people's yearning for a better life. We should combine development and protection. We believe that the combination of marine pasture and offshore wind power is very promising. The sky is bluer, the water is clearer, the fish is fatter, and the people's life is better." Yue Weizhong described a beautiful blueprint for the integrated development of marine pasture and offshore wind power