Engineering news
The fund, financed by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Programme, brings together a consortium of seven governments and agencies from across Europe: Scotland, Brittany, Pays de La Loire, Ireland, Spain, Sweden and the Basque Country.
The initiative will open next month to companies and research organisations and will support collaborative research projects which demonstrate and validate ocean energy technologies.
The project aims to improve coordination of research activity, knowledge transfer and exploitation of results from funded projects.
Partners in the project include: Centro Para el Desarrollo Technologico Industrial, Ente Vasco de la Energía (Basque Energy Agency), the Basque Country, Fundação para a Ciência e a Technologia, Région Bretagne, Région Pays de la Loire, Scottish Enterprise, Statens Energimyndighet (Swedish Energy Agency), and the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland.
“Along with our seven consortium partners and the European Union we recognise the huge potential that ocean energy has to offer in creating a fair, low carbon economy, attracting investment and creating high value jobs while securing the benefits across our communities,” said Scotland’s minister for business, innovation and energy Paul Wheelhouse.
Exploiting power generated primarily from waves and tides, but also salinity gradient and ocean thermal energy conversion, offers significant potential to contribute to Europe’s future energy needs and boasts longer term international business growth opportunities.
The European Ocean Energy Forum Strategic Roadmap, published in November 2016 sets out ambition for Europe to become a leader in the future global market which is worth a potential 653 billion euros between 2010 and 2050.
“This project provides a significant opportunity for collaboration and innovation in ocean energy,” said Jan Reid of Scottish Enterprise’s marine and low carbon technologies team. “Companies can choose to participate with European partners in what I hope will be new breakthrough projects to demonstrate the potential for ocean energy in renewable energy generation.”
The Ocean Energy European Research Area Network Cofund project was launched in January 2017.
Lindsay Roberts, senior policy manager at Scottish Renewables, said continued support of this kind can help fund the pioneering research which the wave and tidal sectors need in order to capitalise on the enormous global resource these technologies can tap.
“It's fantastic to see Scotland at the forefront of this initiative and once again acting as the driving force of Europe’s wave and tidal energy industry,” Roberts added.
“With the world's largest tidal stream project, the first grid-connected tidal array and the largest tidal energy turbine all deployed in Scotland last year, there is much to celebrate in the sector.”