MaRINET2 awards €1.3m to develop the next-generation of offshore renewables

Coordinated by MaREI (Marine and Renewable Energy Ireland) in University College Cork, MaRINET2 is a €10.5m project, funded by the European Commissions’ Horizon 2020 programme. The project provides support to technology developers of offshore wind, wave and tidal) to test their devices in research facilities and in real sea conditions. It is a continuation of the highly successful MaRINET project which ran from 2011 – 2015.

The awards were made after the first in a series of competitive calls for proposals for fully funded access to the 57 test infrastructures in the MaRINET2 network. Through this first call, €1.3m of support was awarded to 34 number of technology development teams. The support will facilitate nearly 500 days of state-of-the-art testing at 20 facilities around Europe.

Dr Jimmy Murphy, co-ordinator of MaRINET2 said the announcement would be a significant boost to the development of offshore renewable energy technology in Europe:

“In order to bring their product to market, it is essential for technology developers to de-risk their technologies through rigorous and staged testing programmes. With today’s announcement, the MaRINET2 project is supporting 34 technology developers to do just that.

What’s more, by helping technology developers test at facilities across the EU, and encouraging knowledge sharing and collaboration, MaRINET2 is strengthening Europe’s position as a centre of excellence for offshore renewable energy research”.