Strategische Agenda 2022-2025

Strategic Agenda - Focus on the Future, Fast Forward Now 11 1.4 | The societal context Solving major challenges requires systemic changes in our society that no single organisation can achieve on its own. Deltares believes its role is to mobilise all forces and bring together the necessary knowledge. Water and the subsurface are everywhere and they can both establish connections and provide guidance. Particularly to address the major challenge of making our environment more climate-proof and resilient. How can we ensure that we can develop the right knowledge to support decision-making as much as possible, for example to avoid closing off adaptation pathways? We work where practice and science, public and private, and knowledge and the market meet. Not only do we develop ‘in-depth’ knowledge; above all, we also work on its application and dissemination. Together with our partners. That is why we are working with numerous stakeholders on the knowledge development needed to tackle the major Sustainable installation and decommissioning of XXL monopiles Offshore wind energy plays a prominent role in the energy transition. In European wind farms, more than 80%of the existing offshore wind turbines are instal- led on monopile foundations. The installation produ- ces a lot of underwater noise that can be harmful to marine life. In addition, it is still the case that the piles cannot be completely removed at the end of their service life. This often means that most of the piles, which can now be up to 80metres long, are left behind in the seabed. That represents hundreds of thousands of tonnes of steel that could be recycled if it could be recovered. Deltares is involved in two major projects to study innovative ways of installing and decommissioning the XXL monopiles of the future (>10m in diameter). Scale tests are being conducted in the new GeoCentrifuge. The aim is to install the piles in a sustainable and cost-effective way and for all the steel to be available for recycling at the end of the lifespan of the turbines. That will take wind energy one step closer to full circularity. In addition, the new method being tested is low-noise and it causes low levels of disturbance in the underwater ecosystem. Delta Flume Is it possible to simulate a full-scale storm? At Deltares, we do that every day. The 300-metre-long, 9.5-metre- deep and 5-metre-wide Delta Flume in Delft is a unique facility where we generate the largest artificial waves in the world. The record is a wave 4.7 metres high! This is needed to see how structures cope with high waves and water levels. It matches what is seen on the Dutch coast. The average wave height there varies between 1.5 and 4 metres, with the latter representing extreme conditions. Deltares built a mock-up of a dike structure three times, with twelve tests being conducted between 2016 and 2019. One of the findings was that the revetment of Nordic rock filled with concrete was stronger than expected. This result alone resulted in a saving of €25 million on the Eemshaven-Delfzijl dike. And it may also lead to major savings on other dike upgrade projects. As well as a cut in carbon emissions and less disruption as a result of transport movements to remove and replace the Nordic rock.