Several tidal and wave energy projects have been granted funding in the latest round of Horizon 2020 SME Instrument for Phase 1.
Turkey’s PARS and UK’s Transense have received funding for the TidalHealth project, which involves health condition monitoring of small scale tidal generators using miniature torque sensors.
Nova Innovation has also been selected to receive funding for its Direct Drive TT project to conduct feasibility studies for an innovative direct drive tidal turbine.
When it comes to wave energy projects, Danish Wavepiston, Finnish Nurmi Cylinders Oy, Italian Energia Mediterranea, and Dutch Vryhof Anchors were granted funding for Wavepiston project, which involves investigating low price of wave energy conversion through force cancellation.
For each project, the participants will receive €50,000 to finance feasibility studies for new products that can disrupt the market. They can also get three days of free business coaching.
Total of 185 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from 26 countries have been selected for this round of funding. The projects funded are mostly in the area of low-carbon energy systems, food production and processing, biomarkers, and medical devices.
The results for Phase 2 of the SME Instrument, where companies get funding up to €2.5 million to make their products ready for the market, will follow around mid-February 2016.