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In order to become climate neutral by 2050, the share of renewable energy generated at sea will need to increase significantly. Floating wind turbines, solar panels and tidal power plants will play a crucial role in this.

If it is up to the European Commission, all the energy used will come from renewable sources by 2050. Achieving this goal will require the large-scale use of floating wind turbines, says Axelle Viré, wind expert at TU Delft. ‘Although the technology is still in its infancy, it has enormous potential,’ she explains. ‘To capitalise on this potential, TU Delft is launching the Floating Renewables Lab: a lab facility that will tie together all the elements of the development chain for floating wind turbines and other offshore renewables with the help of numerical models and AI.’

On March 31th, Dr. Thu-Ha Nguyen successfully defended her thesis on wave-overtopping processes for very mild sloping and shallow foreshores, supervised by Marcel Stive and Bas Hofland. For Marcel, this was a special occasion, as Thu-Ha was his last PhD in his role of promotor here at TU Delft. Starting back in 2003 with a tall Dutchman who obtained his degree with a thesis on Argus video imaging, Marcel has acted as the promotor of no fewer than 51 PhD candidates, 46 at TU Delft and 5 at other academic institutes.

Met ruimteschilden en wittere wolken willen wetenschappers het klimaat redden, 'maar verduurzamen moeten we blijven doen'.

By 2030, TU Delft aims to be operating in a completely sustainable manner. All activities on and from the campus will then be carbon neutral, circular, climate adaptive and contributing to the quality of life for its users and for nature. Together with all staff, students and partners of the university, sustainability coordinator Andy van den Dobbelsteen is working hard to realize this ambition. Everyone can follow the progress on a new website.

Fresh water is scarce in the Dutch coastal area. Climate change and salinisation are putting freshwater availability under even more pressure. This is a problem for agriculture and horticulture in coastal areas, especially in dry summers. In the AGRICOAST project, led by Boris van Breukelen of TU Delft, a consortium of knowledge institutions, companies and social organisations aims to increase the availability of fresh water in the Dutch coastal area. The project has been awarded a grant of 1.5 million euros from NWO to appoint five PhD students.

The Port of Rotterdam and SmartPort have extended their agreement with TU Delft for five more years to provide financial support for the professor Ports & Waterways. They are making a total of 1 million euros available for this purpose.

This week it was announced that the MUDNET team, of which Claire Chassagne and Alex Kirichek are members, won the NWO Team Science award 2021.