ULiège expedition to Greenland
The Unu Mondo expedition set sail from Saint-Malo heading for Greenland with a researcher from ULiège on board. Over 4 months, researchers will collect scientific data and testimonies from local populations.
The aim is to determine a better response to climate change and raising awareness among the population, encouraging them take practical actions.
Named Katabata, the objective of the project led by ULiège and carried out by professors Damien Ernst and Xavier Fettweiss is to identify wind profiles in southern Greenland. According to the professors, the country has great potential for the production of renewable energy thanks to the 'katabatic' winds - hence the name of the project - which blow to the south of its territory, and the huge surface area available for the installation of wind turbines. Their calculations show that it could produce as much energy as 200 nuclear reactors while ensuring a cheap price for this energy. For Professor Damien Ernst, Greenland is the ideal place for considering the creation of a vast wind farm that would be able to replace nuclear reactors throughout Europe and thus accelerate the ecological transition. In order to verify this hypothesis, Michaël Fonder, a ULiège researcher and member of the expedition will set up and manage three weather stations capable of measuring these powerful winds. The stations will later be completely autonomous and remotely controlled.
If the hypothesis proves to be true, it could significantly accelerate the European energy transition.