Archive

The European Commission is writing new State Aid rules for energy. These rules are really important for the sector – they decide if and how national and regional governments can fund renewable energy projects.

The new draft rules are a big improvement on the old rules. They are much simpler, so renewable projects are easier to fund than other sectors.

Most importantly the % ‘thresholds’ on public funding are removed. Now governments can provide as much public funding as is needed to close a project’s ‘funding gap’. It will be much simpler to properly fund demo projects, and to combine different sources of public funds. So this is a big win. In addition, national governments can still allocate revenue support to individual technologies – so ocean energy does not need to compete directly against more established mature tech.

Transforming the energy sector requires a shift towards renewable energy sources. The world’s oceans are a source of abundant renewable energy, which can be tapped through offshore wind (with fixed and floating foundations, or airborne), floating solar photovoltaics (PV) and other emerging ocean energy technologies.

The G20 Italian presidency of 2021, acknowledging the importance of offshore renewables in the energy transition, commissioned IRENA to analyse and develop a proposed action agenda to foster offshore renewables deployment globally. Offshore renewables include offshore wind, ocean wave, tidal, thermal and salinity gradient technologies and floating solar PV.

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As the science and knowledge service of the European Commission, the mission of the Joint Research Centre is to support EU policies with independent evidence throughout the whole policy cycle.

The current vacancy is in the ‘Knowledge for the Energy Union’ Unit of Directorate C – Energy, Transport & Climate. Its mission is to support the delivery of the European Green Deal and the transition to a climate-neutral economy with scientific evidence, through the mapping and analysis of relevant knowledge and data, the generation of new evidence, the anticipation of evolving trends and effective communication.

As Project Officer for innovation in clean energy technologies with focus on ocean energy you will be carrying out research to support the Commission Research & Innovation and Energy policy making process with scientific analysis and data.

APPLY HERE

Ocean Energy Europe is the trade association for ocean energy in Europe. Our goal is to unite the key industry players behind a common strategy to commercialise the ocean energy sector and generate clean, secure renewable energy from Europe’s seas.

The Project Communications Coordinator will lead the communications and project management tasks on a number of EU-funded projects in which Ocean Energy Europe is a partner. The role will entail a significant amount of copywriting and editing, so a very high standard of written English is required.

This position reports to the Communications & Events Director. You will be part of a dynamic team who has put ocean energy, a nascent sector, on the European map.

OEE’s ‘Target 2025’ event on 22 June was extremely successful. It brought important political attention to the ocean energy sector and in particular to the Offshore Strategy’s target of 100MW of wave and tidal by 2025. European Commission Director for Green Transition and Energy System Integration Catharina Sikow-Magny hailed OEE’s study on the ocean energy project pipeline as ‘precise and useful’, and reaffirmed the Commission’s commitment to the sector. She identified the coming decade as ‘crucial for ocean energy developers’ and emphasised that ‘swift and continuous action is absolutely necessary’.

The Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson subsequently cited OEE’s analysis in correspondence with the European Parliament, and committed to intensify its coordination with national and regional authorities, with a focus on funding and re-risking of demonstration projects’

We call for an EU-wide renewable risk mitigation schemes to de-risk private sector investment in capital-intensive renewable energy solutions in the Renewable Energy Directive.

Member States are obliged to reduce the capital cost of renewable energy technologies under Article 3.5(1) of the Renewable Energy Directive. De-risking capital intensive renewable heating, cooling and electricity projects is the most optimal solution. At present, capital cost risks are a barrier to significant investment in our technologies across the EU.

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With the Fit for 55 package coming in July– and with European Union Member States’ Recovery and Resilience Plans currently being reviewed — the next few weeks are crucial to ensuring the European Green Deal delivers on its ambitious promises and Europe meets its Paris Agreement commitments. Our economic recovery’s success, our 2030 climate objectives and the goal of a climate-neutral Europe by 2050 are all on the line.

With so much at stake in such a compressed time frame, the 14 undersigned organisations urge you in the coming weeks and months to place climate- and energy-related innovation at the centre of the EU’s Fit for 55 legislative proposals. Without a significant focus on scaling and rapidly deploying innovation, we will miss our long-term climate targets and our economic recovery will falter.

In short, Fit for 55 must be Fit for Climate Innovation.

Read the full letter

The Commission’s assessment of the 27 National Energy & Climate Plans is stark – Member States are currently not harnessing R&I to deliver on their climate and energy objectives.

To reach climate neutrality by 2050, and to strengthen Europe’s global leadership in renewables, new innovations must be brought to market this decade.

Technologies such as geothermal, solar heating and cooling, next generation PV, next generation heat pump technologies, floating wind, concentrated solar power, ocean energy and bioenergy can then:

• diversify the post-2030 energy mix
• facilitate the decarbonisation of energy supply, including power generation, heating and cooling supply and the transport sector
• balance a grid with a very high penetration of variable generation
• create high-value jobs and contribute to Europe’s technological and industrial leadership in the green economy

Download the Position Paper

Ocean Energy Europe (OEE) has appointed Simon De Pietro (DP Energy, Ireland) and Patrik Möller (Corpower Ocean, Sweden) as its new Co-Presidents. This pairing brings together both technology and project development perspectives, and a wealth of experience in ocean energy.

The appointments come at a crucial time for the ocean energy sector, as the push to scale up and industrialise intensifies, and the shift towards 100% renewable energy sources picks up pace. Together with the OEE Board of Directors, the Co-Presidents will steer the sector’s course over the coming years, as ocean energy positions itself as a key part of decarbonising the world’s energy supply.

The board also welcomes seven new Directors, elected this morning by the OEE membership. This election ensures that the association’s board continues to represent a diverse cross-section of the industry across Europe, and maintains its high-level orientation.

The newly elected Directors are:

• Matthew Finn, Commercial Director, European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC)
• Marlène Kiersnowski, Project Manager, SEENEOH Tidal Test Site
• Tony Lewis, Chief Technology Officer, Ocean Energy
• Patrik Möller, CEO, Corpower Ocean
• Pablo Ruiz Minguela, Head of Wave Energy, Tecnalia
• Britta Schaffmeister, CEO, Dutch Marine Energy Centre (DMEC)
• Oliver Wragg, Commercial Director, Orbital Marine Power

Euractiv op-ed

A new sub-target in the revised Renewable Energy Directive for the deployment of innovative technologies is all it would take for Europe to reclaim its competitive edge in renewables.

Europe is dragging its heels when it comes to innovation in next-generation renewables, threatening the decarbonisation process and the 2050 climate neutrality objective.

Fortunately, this year’s revision of the Renewables Energy Directive is an opportunity to structurally fix the problem – and to permanently position Europe on the frontier of renewable energy innovation.

The European Commission has been proactive in creating mechanisms that push the development of innovative energy sources, including deep geothermal, concentrated solar, tidal and wave energy – but these technologies are hitting a wall when it comes to scaling-up.

This wall – or rather ‘valley of death’ – exists because of an absence of market-pull efforts by Member States. The 27 National Energy & Climate Plans (NECPs) are completely focused on meeting 2030 targets – thus neglecting the technologies that are needed post-2030.