We help to drive European wave and tidal power generation forward

We have embarked on a new two-year project in partnership with the Strategic Initiative for Ocean Energy Development (SI OCEAN). The project, supported by the Intelligent Energy Europe Program, aims to:

• Identify practical solutions to remove a range of barriers to large scale wave and tidal energy deployment
• To deliver a common strategy for maximising the capacity of wave and tidal energy system installations by 2020, 2030 and 2050
  

As a part of this exciting project, we will bring our expertise to perform a detailed resource assessment study. We will also support the development of a new, harmonised and comprehensive pan-European wave and tidal power resource map. In parallel, we will establish a novel, synchronised dataset with fit-for-purpose spatial planning capability. This will allow stakeholders to assess the potential wave and tidal energy distribution across Europe for different time horizons. The resource assessment will be one of the key tools for advancing the sustainable development of the oceanic renewable industry.

The interface for resource assessment will be based on our MIKE Customised technology platform – a unique toolbox of software components. This platform helps to provide sustainable and customised systems supporting business and decision processes. The interface will be the key instrument for integrating resource, technology and market deployment plans. It will also be vital for estimating the geographical distribution and size of potential energy production. Thus, the interface will provide a firm foundation for future strategic planning.

The main objective of our work plan is to fully explore the potential and realistic contribution of wave and tidal energy to European energy needs through:

• Gathering, harmonising and potentially supplementing the available wave and tidal energy resource data
• Creating a wave and tidal energy resource assessment interface integrating resource data and energy extraction by devices
• Producing wave and tidal energy production projections for 2020, 2030 and 2050 in support of the Market Development Strategy
• Stakeholders consultation
  
  The other partners in the SI OCEAN project are Carbon Trust, RenewableUK, University of Edinburgh, The European Ocean Energy Association, Joint Research Centre and Wave Energy Centre.