Marine Renewable Energy Directed KE Fellowship: Biofouling in the UK Marine Renewable Energy Industry

当海洋可再生能源装置等人造结构被部署到海洋中时，它们很快就会被生长在裸露表面的生物群落殖民。从工程角度来看，这种海洋生长或生物污损往往是不受欢迎的，可能会对设备的结构完整性、效率、维护和功能产生影响。非本地物种也经常出现在人造结构上，这使得生物污损成为潜在的生物安全风险，并可能成为物种入侵的媒介。生物污损群落中物种的类型、地理位置以及生物定居和生长的季节性等因素导致生物污损特性如质量、厚度和质地具有高度的变异性。目前，海洋可再生能源中小企业的大部分设计、效率计算和维护计划都是基于生物污垢厚度的非常基本的数字，而没有考虑到可变性。技术标准承认现有指南的局限性，并建议尽可能使用现场特定的测量方法。不幸的是，由于该行业的新鲜性，这些数据往往无法获得，在计算海洋生长对设备的影响时，中小企业和工程师的工作只不过是一个“最佳猜测”。Jen Loxton最近与学术界、监管机构和行业的与会者共同主持了一个研讨会，讨论海洋可再生能源设备上的生物污垢问题。该小组总共确定了119个与生物污损有关的问题，这些问题对运营、财务或环境产生了影响。确定的帮助解决其中许多问题的一个关键优先事项是加强科学、工程和海洋工业之间的知识交流。人们承认，科学界和工业界有大量的生物污垢知识，但目前还没有途径将这些知识提供给适当的人，以便为可再生能源设备的设计和维护决策提供信息。在这个KE项目中，Jen的目标是解决沟通上的差距。在团契期间，Jen将开发和推出一个全面的在线资源，该资源将以一种可访问的和行业相关的形式为英国海洋可再生能源社区整合生物污垢科学。这一资源将包括：-生物污垢知识网站，翻译成行业--一个由英国生物污垢分布和特征数据库支持的互动工具/应用程序该网站将为与英国海洋可再生能源行业相关的利益相关者提供生物污垢“一站式商店”，并帮助为工程和运营决策提供信息，并提高对潜在环境问题的认识。预计它将扩大生物污垢科学的影响范围和影响。一个全面的数据库将填充生物污垢科学和物种分布数据，并将为互动工具/应用程序提供动力。用户将指定位置、部署类型和生物污垢的可用观测，该工具将生成一套量身定做的行业相关统计数据和可能的管理技术。该工具的完整规格将在研究金期间确定，但可能的产出实例包括最大生物量、污垢厚度和粗糙度、预期的季节变化和附近已知的非本地物种。通过与英国数据库的实时链接(如NBN网关)和增加用户指定的生物污垢观察，该数据库将在奖学金有效期内和以后继续增长。奖学金的信息将从学术界、监管机构和整个海洋行业收集，包括石油和天然气、航运、休闲游艇和水产养殖业。该研究员将纳入以前的NERC项目(如EBAO和Flowbec)的数据，扩大这项研究的影响。

When man-made structures, such as marine renewable energy devices, are deployed in the sea they are quickly colonised by communities of organisms growing on exposed surfaces. This marine growth, or biofouling, is often unwanted from an engineering perspective and can have consequences for structural integrity, efficiency, maintenance and functioning of devices. Non-native species are also commonly found on man-made structures, making biofouling a potential biosecurity risk and a possible vector for species invasions. Factors such as the type of species in the biofouling community, the geographical location and the seasonality of organism settlement and growth lead to a high degree of variability in biofouling properties such as mass, thickness and texture. At the moment marine renewable energy SME's conduct most of their design, efficiency calculations and maintenance planning based on very basic figures for biofouling thickness which do not take into account variability. Technical standards acknowledge the limitations of existing guidance and recommend that whenever possible, site-specific measurements should be used. Unfortunately, due to the newness of the industry, this data is often not available and SMEs and engineers are working with little more than a "best guess" when calculating for the effects of marine growth on devices.Jen Loxton recently co-hosted a workshop which discussed biofouling on marine renewable energy devices with attendees spanning academia, regulatory bodies, and industry. Together this group identified 119 issues associated with biofouling with operational, financial or environmental impacts. A key priority which was identified to help solve many of these issues was improved knowledge exchange between science, engineering and marine industry. It was acknowledged that there is a lot of biofouling knowledge in the scientific and industrial communities but there is currently no pathway for getting this to the right people to inform renewable energy device design and maintenance decisions. It is this gap in communication which Jen aims to address in this KE project.During the fellowship Jen will develop and launch a comprehensive online resource which will consolidate biofouling science in an accessible and industry relevant format for the UK marine renewable energy community. This resource will consist of:- A website of biofouling knowledge, translated for industry- An interactive tool/app powered by a database of UK biofouling distribution and characteristicsThe website will provide a biofouling "one-stop-shop" for stakeholders associated with the UK marine renewable energy industry and help to inform engineering and operational decisions and increase awareness of potential environmental considerations. It is anticipated that it will increase the reach and impact of biofouling science.A comprehensive database will be populated with biofouling science and species distribution data and will power the interactive tool/app. A user would specify location, deployment type and available observations of biofouling and the tool will generate a tailored suite of industrially relevant statistics and possible management techniques. Full specifications for the tool will be determined during the fellowship but examples of possible outputs include maximum biomass, thickness and rugosity of fouling, expected seasonal variations and known non-native species in the vicinity. The database will continue to grow during the life of the fellowship and beyond through live links with UK databases (e.g. NBN gateway) and the addition of user specified biofouling observations.Information for the fellowship will be gathered from academia, regulatory bodies and from across the maritime industries, including oil & gas, shipping, leisure boating and the aquaculture industries. The fellow will include data from previous NERC projects (e.g. EBAO and FlowBec), expanding the impact of this research.