The EU-funded ODYSSEA project has begun a large campaign to reach out to Blue Economy industrial actors across the Mediterranean, which recently led to the agreement signed with Energean to integrate ODYSSEA monitoring equipment at a gas production platform in Greek waters.
ODYSSEA’s push for partnerships comes on the heels of a key update to the ODYSSEA platform’s capabilities, adhering it to the new Collect Localisation Satellites (CLS) data system and upgrading ODYSSEA’s emphasis on user-oriented services.
The agreement with Energean “illustrates the rapid progress made by the ODYSSEA Project,” said ODYSSEA coordinator Prof. Georgios Sylaios from the Democritus University of Thrace. “This is the essence of ODYSSEA, since it aims to familiarise users with oceanographic instrumentation, models, forecasts and services,” he added.
Prof. Georgios Sylaios – together with ODYSSEA partners Simon Keeble of Blue Lobster IT and North Africa capacity-building partner Dr. Slim Gana of the Regional Activity Centre for Specially Protected Areas (RAC/SPA) – presented the ODYSSEA platform in a conference call to a team of seven senior Energean staff members, headed by Vasileios Tsetoglou, Energean’s Director of Health, Safety and Environment. Sylaios’ presentation focused on the ODYSSEA platform output’s features and range of potential services.
After giving an overview of ODYSSEA activities and its ambition to contribute to building a sustainable model of Blue Growth across the Mediterranean, Prof. Georgios Sylaios explained the process of data integration and transformation into elements for business intelligence. Simon Keeble highlighted ODYSSEA’s versatile and scalable features, which will allow it to satisfy the particular needs of practically any industrial user active in a marine environment.
The Energean team said they see the ODYSSEA platform as a valuable tool that can support Energean’s vision to be at the forefront of the Mediterranean marine energy and power sector, while maintaining its commitment to adhere to standards aimed at reaching net-zero emissions and limiting global temperature rise.
According to the agreement, Energean will host ODYSSEA equipment monitoring oceanographic parameters such as conductivity, water temperature and acidity (pH), water level, turbidity, dissolved oxygen, currents at various depths of the water column, suspended matter and marine noise. The equipment will include ODYSSEA’s autonomous Modular Seafloor Lander, which will be lowered to the sea bottom near Energean facilities in the Thracian Sea to collect data.
“As a company that is focused on delivering energy transition and securing the sustainable development of natural resources in the Mediterranean, we are committed to advance research and data collection in the Mediterranean,” said Vassilis Tsetoglou, Energean’s HSE director. “We are happy to cooperate with ODYSSEA on such an ambitious effort to improve ocean observations for environmental management, monitoring the marine ecosystem health and safety, and boosting surveillance.”
ODYSSEA is in the advanced stages of developing, operating and demonstrating an interoperable and cost-effective platform that fully integrates networks of observing and forecasting systems across the Mediterranean basin, in the open sea and the coastal zone.
