Release of H2020 OceanSET Project First Annual Report

Strong public funding support, high technology readiness level for tidal concepts and progress in full‐scale wave energy converter development

This first OceanSET annual report provides an overview of progress in the ocean energy sector in 2018. Key findings from the annual data collection are presented below:

• 6 Member States out of 11 have an ocean energy policy.
• Ocean Energy received €26.3M funding from Member States in 2018.
• 90 ocean energy projects were funded by Member States in 2018, 2/3 of which concern wave energy devices.
• 12 ocean energy projects operational in 2018 were identified as TRL 7 or above.
• 3 Member States consented wave or tidal projects in 2018.
• Test sites enabling demonstration can be found in almost all of the Member States.
• The supply chain in most Member States is considered robust.

A structured mapping methodology

The annual report is built on a survey that Member states and developers filled out and which gathered information on the current state of ocean energy sector. The data collected will be used to inform the European Commission of the support required to develop the sector. The survey focused on 4 types of information, aligned with the requirements of the implementation plan: general, technical, financial and environmental.

The survey contained two sections:

• Section 1 captured high‐level information from Member States on their ocean energy sector that will feed into the annual report for the European Commission;
• Section 2 gathered project specific information on developers who have devices or are
  undertaking projects to develop their technology to a TRL 7 or above.

The metrics for the survey were developed in Deliverable 5.1, which is publicly available on the OceanSET website.

To go further: the full report and a dedicated webinar

• The entire first OceanSET annual report is publicly available on the OceanSET website as Deliverable D6.5;
• A dedicated webinar will be organised on 7 May 2020 at 11:00 AM CEST in close collaboration with ETIP Ocean to provide an update on the ocean energy sector, based on recent information on costs, technologies, revenue support and other facts from numerous European countries as presented in the first annual report. Registration is already open and the programme is online. Click here.

You can keep up to date with progress by visiting the OceanSET website at www.oceanset.eu or by contacting France Energies. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement N°840651.

OceanSET in short

Subject - Support ocean energy implementation in line with the European Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET Plan)

Aims

• To facilitate technology development
• To understand the current support activities for Ocean Energy across Europe
• To identify appropriate innovation programmes which can bring ocean
  energy technologies to commercial deployment at an acceptable levelized
  cost of energy by 2025 (for tidal technologies) and 2030 (for wave
  technologies).

Duration - 3 years (March 2019 ‐ February 2022)
Budget - €1 million
Funding - EU Research and Innovation Programme H2020 (Grant Agreement No 840651) 
Leader - Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI)