A French company specialised in digital environmental monitoring is looking for partners in offshore wind farms

For the last 8 years the French SME has developped a digital solution for marine megafauna assessment (birds, marine mammals, turtles and big fish species). Marine megafauna assessments are necessary and mandatory, before, during and after construction of offshore wind farms. First before construction to check where is localised the marine megafauna and to define what is the best localisation for the wind farms in order to avoid to build them on a place with a high wildlife activity. Then during and after construction to check the impact on animals, their behaviours and moves in the area. Those assessments are usually based on aerial surveys at low altitude with visual observers before construction and then with aerial surveys at higher altitude with digital solutions. The solution of the French company for digital environmental assessment is an onboard camera and a software able to detect and classify marine megafauna in high definition aerial images thanks to specific deep learning technics. This digital solution is already used in french offshore wind farms to compare its ability to provide the same information than visual observers onboard planes. The data extracted from aerial images is geo-referenced thanks to a Geographic Information System (GIS) plugin. Then the data is used by marine biologists or ecology consultants to generate distribution maps or density models which will help to see where the marine megafauna is before, during and after construction. The French company is looking for partners who work in the field of environmental assessments in offshore wind farms and need this type of solution. The French company usually cooperates with its partner to support the work from observation to analysis but can adapt to fit its partner's needs and propose a more global support from observation and ecological data analysis to environmental impact report writing, thanks to already established partnerships with other French companies. The partnership will be made under a commercial agreement with technical assistance.