The transition from single machine to pilot farm scale is critical for the future of the ocean energy sector. Scaling up to multi-device farms will improve the competitiveness of the technology by bringing down costs across the supply chain. This transition comes with higher capital requirements and investors require a proven business case before they get further involved.
The European Regional Development Fund’s Ocean DEMO will ease the transition towards pilot farms by providing free access to Europe’s world leading network of open sea test centers:
Ocean DEMO follows on from the highly successful FORESEA project, which provides free access to open sea test centers for single machine testing. FORESEA has helped prove the tremendous potential of ocean energy, with 19 technologies deployed and more to come this year. Examples like Orbital Marine Power, who generated over 3 GWh of electricity in a year, proved that the technology works and can be part of a renewable energy mix in Europe.
Industry group Ocean Energy Europe will channel the project’s achievements and learnings to its international network of ocean energy professionals, ensuring broad dissemination across the sector.
Oliver Wragg, Commercial Director at EMEC, said, “We’re delighted to be able to continue the work we started with FORESEA. We were able to demonstrate a wide range of technologies throughout the ocean energy supply chain thanks to Interreg’s support and the efforts of all the project partners.
“With Ocean DEMO, we will be able to scale up technologies to pilot farm scale. This will reduce technical risks, minimize environmental impacts and improve the economic competitiveness of ocean energy production. We’re looking forward to collaborating with ocean energy innovators across Europe and help them get machines in the water.”
