Natural Power, the leading renewable energy consultancy and service provider, has been appointed to support a newly launched €5 million Horizon Europe project, COMPASS (Comprehensive Offshore Management Platform for Assessing Sustainability), which aims to improve the environmental, social and economic sustainability of offshore wind farms across Europe.
Launched in November 2025, the four-year COMPASS project will develop a holistic, open-source decision-support platform that integrates environmental, economic and social models with life-cycle methodologies and an offshore wind farm digital twin. The platform will demonstrate how offshore wind farms interact with marine ecosystems and the benefits these ecosystems provide, supporting more informed and transparent decision-making.
The COMPASS platform will combine life cycle assessment (LCA), social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) and life cycle costing (LCC) with ecosystem and socio-ecosystem metabolism models, as well as ecosystem services assessments. This integrated approach will enable sustainability assessments applicable to both bottom-fixed and floating offshore wind technologies, across a range of European sea basins.
The project methodology is designed to produce clear sustainability indicators and practical recommendations, supporting design decisions and tender evaluations. To ensure strong industry uptake, the platform will be developed in close collaboration with an end-user group comprising offshore wind developers, environmental consultancies and decision-makers.
Natural Power is contributing its extensive experience in offshore renewables, environmental assessment and ecosystem-based decision support to help ensure the platform delivers practical value for industry stakeholders.
Marie Montus, Head of Consulting & Environment at Natural Power France, said: “We’re proud to see Natural Power contributing to the newly launched Horizon Europe COMPASS project, alongside leading academic, research and industry partners. With more than 20 years of experience in offshore renewables and over 200 projects delivered globally, our teams are excited to bring their expertise in environmental impact assessment, ecological modelling and ecosystem-based decision support to help shape the next generation of sustainable offshore wind development.
“This is a great step forward for more integrated, transparent and science-driven offshore wind planning across Europe.”
About the COMPASS consortium
The COMPASS project is coordinated by France Energies Marines (FEM), with RWTH Aachen University acting as scientific co-coordinator. The consortium brings together a wide range of expertise, including:
• Academic partners:
Rheinisch-Westfaelische Technische Hochschule Aachen (RWTH), Universiteit Gent (UGENT), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Lappeenrannan-Lahden Teknillinen Yliopisto (LUT), Technische Universität Berlin (TUB), Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB)
• Research organisations:
Fundació Institut de Recerca de l’Energia de Catalunya (IREC), Norsk Institutt for Vannforskning (NIVA), France Energies Marines (FEM)
• Industrial partners:
Parkwind, RWE Offshore Wind, The Natural Power Consultants Limited
• SMEs:
Circular Srl, Euronovia
In the coming months, the COMPASS consortium will launch its communication channels and first project materials. A dedicated project website will go live by April 2026, alongside regular news articles and newsletters sharing progress and early results with the offshore wind community and wider stakeholders.
To follow project updates, please follow: www.linkedin.com/company/compass-project-eu/
