New Wave Media

 

FORESEA is an €11 million ($13 million) project financed by the Interreg North West Europe program which helps to bring offshore renewable energy technologies to market by providing free access to a world-leading network of test centers: the European Marine Energy Center (EMEC) (UK), SEM-REV (France), SmartBay (Ireland) and Dutch Marine Energy Center (Netherlands). Access is awarded through a series of competitive calls for application.

 

The awards, FORESEA says, highlight the leading role Europe plays in ocean energy RD&I globally, with continued strong demand for testing in European ocean energy centers of excellence from both EU and non-EU developers.

 

FORESEA’s user selection board awarded a ‘Recommendation for Support” to demonstration projects led by the following technology developers to test at the indicated test center: 

 

Final confirmation of support will be granted to developers upon contract with the relevant test center.

 

FORESEA says the awards will allow technology developers to test their technologies at sea and help them to attract further investment and move along the path to industrialization.

 

The announcement was made by Paul Wheelhouse, Scottish Minister for Business, Innovation and Energy, at the Ocean Energy Europe 2017 Conference & Exhibition in Nantes, who said, "I warmly welcome the news that Scotland’s flagship European Marine Energy Center will be used to provide world class testing facilities for three of the six projects from the FORESEA program. It is further evidence of the recognized excellence of EMEC as a global player in the research and development and testing of ocean energy devices, and of Scotland’s status as a major player in the European renewable energy sector. 

 

“Moreover it also illustrates very clearly the continued importance of EU funding in helping to bring low carbon technologies to market and to fostering research collaboration – something we are determined to continue, despite the outcome of the EU referendum in which 62 percent of Scots voted to stay in the EU."

 

Rémi Gruet, CEO of Ocean Energy Europe, said, “Europe is the global center for ocean energy RD&I and today’s FORESEA awards are new evidence of that. Demand for testing remains high, as concepts and machines require validation before getting to market. Significantly, non-EU technologies are coming to Europe to test, recognizing the experience and knowhow from our test centers.

 

“With continued public support for RD&I, Europe can capitalize on this technological advantage and create a new manufacturing sector based on indigenous, renewable energy," Gruet concluded.

 

The fourth and final FORESEA call for applications opened on October 11, 2017, and aims to help technology developers from other offshore sectors transition into the renewable energy market. The call runs until June 29, 2018.