MARIN: Testing the First Floating Mega Island

MARIN (Maritime Research Institute Netherlands) tested an innovative concept for a floating mega island earlier this week.

The island comprises 87 large floating triangles that are flexibility connected to one another.

Together they form a flexible floating island that can be as large as 1 to 5 km in cross-section.

Olaf Waals, project manager and the concept developer, said: “As sea level rises, cities become overcrowded and more activities are carried out at sea, raising the dikes and reclaiming land from the seas are perhaps no longer an effective solution. An innovative alternative that fits with the Dutch maritime tradition is floating ports and cities.”

Floating mega islands offer future-proof living and working space at sea for:

• Developing, generating, storing, and maintaining sustainable energy (offshore wind, tidal energy, wave energy and floating solar panels);
• Loading and transhipping cargo in coastal areas where there is little infrastructure;
• Cultivating food, such as seaweed and fish;
• Building houses and recreation close to the water.

These types of solutions are part of the Blue Future in which the seas and oceans (70% of the earth’s surface area) are used sustainably, said MARIN.