French firm Kerlink is using a 27MW wind farm that supplies clean energy to more than 27,000 households in the Dutch port of Moerdijk to power an IoT network across a 2000km² area to serve government agencies, businesses and families 120m below the stations.

In addition to monitoring air quality, including CO₂ emissions, sensors installed across the area are used for monitoring water levels and open or closed bridges and gates, which helps traffic move efficiently and reduces vehicle emissions.

Kerlink’s Wirnet iStations are installed on the turbines. The wind-powered outdoor gateways run entirely on green electricity. Remy de Jong Senior of SkyLab, which installed the network, said the advantage of the height is that the signal is stronger and reaches further.

“With these great results, we expect to expand the public IoT into the wind industry, for example for on- and off-shore wind turbines,” he said. “We usually do that on high buildings and towers.”

When the port had the large wind farm installed at the southern Netherlands municipality in 2020, operated by Vattenfall, one of the European specialists in green energy, officials realised the turbine towers could serve an additional purpose: hosting an IoT network that provides key sensor data to the bustling port 120m below. Kerlink was selected to provide the gateways for the LoRaWan project.

The gateways receive sensor data and information in a radius of 25km, or 2000km², and securely transfer them to users in the energy-efficient IoT network. In addition to monitoring air quality, including CO₂ emissions, sensors monitor water levels and open or closed bridges and gates around the port, which helps traffic move efficiently and reduces emissions.

In addition, the industrial-grade IoT network will be available near the port for shipping, rail and other companies, as well as municipalities, government agencies and individuals, at low cost.

“When we entered into talks with port of Moerdijk, we got the idea during a brainstorm of using the wind-farm towers,” said de Jong. “Installing a gateway on a windmill – we have never done that before in the Netherlands, and to my knowledge, it hasn’t been done this way anywhere in the world.”

Aurélien Seugnet, Kerlink’s business developer, added: “Kerlink Wirnet iStation IoT gateways are operating 100m above the water in what will be an exposed and challenging environment, but this product has repeatedly proven its robust performance and reliability. Being wind powered also is a key benefit, because they will be out of reach for battery replacements.”

The project is Kerlink’s second major deployment in the Netherlands. In 2019, it was part of a joint deployment of a LoRaWan private IoT network at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, one of the largest international airports in Europe.

Based in France, with subsidiaries in the USA, Singapore, India and Japan, Kerlink is a co-founder and board member of the LoRa Alliance and the uCIFI Alliance.