Archive

Ocean Energy Europe and Copernicus Marine Service officially launched their new partnership today at a reception hosted by the European Commission in Brussels. The collaboration will help European ocean energy companies create export market opportunities.

Copernicus Marine Service uses the Copernicus satellite network to generate data on seas and oceans. The partnership launched today will improve access to this data for the ocean energy industry, with a strong focus on export markets. It will also help inform the next iteration of Copernicus Marine Service for the ocean energy sector by leveraging hands-on knowledge from the industry.

This will benefit the European ocean energy industry by providing better global resource assessment, more precise weather forecasting, and support environmental impact assessment.

The partnership will last up to 3 years.

Rémi Gruet, CEO of Ocean Energy Europe said:
“Precise data such as current speed is paramount to assessing electricity production and reducing costs. This partnership will increase interaction between the industry and Copernicus Marine Service ensuring the programme meets the needs of the ocean energy sector. The focus on export markets will help build on Europe’s technology leadership by facilitating projects outside of Europe.”

For more information about the launch event, click here.

2016 saw an unprecedented number of ocean energy deployments in Europe, according to a report published by Ocean Energy Europe. The report, entitled Ocean Energy Project Spotlight – Investing in Tidal & Wave Energy, highlights the key projects driving this new industrial sector forward.

The Ocean Energy Project Spotlight report is available here.

Commenting on the report, OEE Policy Director Jacopo Moccia said:
 
“Europe’s ocean energy industry began to take off in 2016, with just under 20MW deployed capacity in the water by the end of the year and another 30MW under construction. Most notably, the tidal industry deployed its first pre-commercial farms at Paimpol-Brehat in France; and the MeyGen and Shetland Tidal Array projects in Scotland.
 
Following a couple of rocky years, wave energy has steadied itself and the frontrunner technologies are gearing up to deploy their first pre-commercial farms over the next two to three years.
 
A lot of this is being driven by the EU who have begun to put their shoulder to the wheel: Horizon 2020 has committed €130m to ocean energy since 2014, and in 2016 the European Investment Bank invested in the sector for the first time.
 
Europe currently leads the world in ocean energy technology. With the right support over the coming decade, this will mean creating a new manufacturing sector capable of meeting 10% of Europe’s electricity demand”

Ségolène Royal, French Minister for Energy, has announced that the French government will launch a new round of commercial tenders for tidal energy. Two deployment zones are being identified by regional authorities in Brittany and Normandy. These will be subject to a competitive tender managed by the French government. The zones will accomodate projects of 50-100MW.

The European manufacturing industry, representing a diverse range of sectors call on the European Commission to:

• reaffirm its commitment to reaching the target of 20% of GDP from industry, with an ambitious and realistic timeline;
• adopt am Action Plan to tackle the challenges that the industrial sectors are facing, in the framework of a Communication that would include concrete steps and milestones;
• commit to implement this Action Plan in a timely manner and regularly report on progress.

The full Joint Declaration is available here.

Commissioners for Maritime Affairs, Mr Vella and for Energy, Mr Cañete will present the Ocean Energy Roadmap to European Energy Ministers on February 27.

 
The Roadmap, published in October last year, was developed by the ocean energy industry under the patronage of the European Commission. It makes concrete recommendations to bring tidal, wave and other ocean energy technologies to commercialisation.
 
The Roadmap will now be discussed during the meeting of the European Union’s Energy Council of Ministers.

The European Parliament has adopted a proposal to reform the EU ETS Directive for the post 2020 period with a majority of 379 votes against 263 rejections and 57 abstentions. The reform proposes an Innovation Fund which will finance clean energy and low carbon projects by auctioning ETS allowances.

To read the full review, please click here

To read a summary of the review, please click here

Highlights from OEE2016