Powered by the ocean

Ocean energy is a limitless, indigenous source of power, right on our doorstep.

Ocean energy technologies exploit the power of tides and waves, as well as differences in sea temperatures and salinity, to produce electricity.

Developing ocean energy will bring huge economic benefits, creating jobs in Europe, and leading a huge global export market.

Its predictability makes it an ideal balancing partner for wind and solar and it has little or no environmental impact.

The size of the prize for commercialising ocean energy is huge. In Europe alone, the ocean energy industry plans to deploy 100GW of production capacity by 2050, meeting 10% of electricity demand. That’s enough to meet the daily electricity needs of 94 million households.

Deploying 100GW of ocean energy will also mean creating a new industrial sector based firmly in Europe, and 500,000 skilled jobs all along the supply chain.

Over the past decade, OEE members have invested over €1bn in RD&I activities. These investments have created the base of world leading knowledge and expertise needed to build an industry.

European governments are starting to create the market visibility required for ocean energy to take decisive steps towards commercialisation, and private investors are taking interest in the sector. Thanks to this new-found support, the ocean energy industry is scaling up in major ways, with over 100 megawatts (MW) of installed capacity planned for deployments in the coming years.