The National Subsea Research Initiative (NSRI) is hosting a Mastermining workshop in Aberdeen on May 16 for subsea supply chain companies in a bid to harness opportunities in the wave and tidal market.
Scotland is active in the commercialisation of wave and tidal stream energy, including via the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney and the world’s first large-scale tidal stream array, MeyGen, in the Pentland Firth, which generated first power in 2016.
The emerging sector is already generating significant commercial opportunities. More than £450 million has been spent across the UK wave and tidal supply chain to date and the global industry is forecast to be worth up to £76 billion by 2050, subject to successful commercialisation.
The workshop – comprising speakers, case studies and technical sessions – is aimed at technical specialists, businesses and researchers within the subsea, wave and tidal communities and will draw upon research undertaken by NSRI and the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult & Energy Technology Partnership to explore current and future technical challenges and commercial opportunities.
Targeted at technical specialists, the workshop aims to explore the challenges and opportunities within the growing wave and tidal energy industry, increase supply chain awareness of opportunities in the sector and allow for technical expertise to be shared amongst industry peers.
The event will build on the Ocean Power Innovation Network (OPIN) and Opportunity North East (ONE) event held in June last year – as well as the in-depth research undertaken by NSRI in collaboration with ORE Catapult & Energy Technology Partnership (ETP).
Key players in the industry including Atlantis, BP, European Marine Energy Centre, Babcock are all confirmed to attend the one-day event.
The Mastermining event, co-sponsored by Scottish Enterprise and ONE, with David Rennie (Head of Energy Oil and Gas) will kick-off with an opening plenary session before short case studies are presented to attendees. Technical break-out sessions will also take place, facilitated by representatives from oil and gas, wave and tidal sectors, to stimulate discussion of key subject matters.
NSRI director of research and market acceleration, Tony Laing , said: “There are huge opportunities for subsea supply chain companies to adapt their technologies and techniques and apply them to the wave and tidal sectors.
“These forms of renewable energy are much less mature and as a result, often more expensive to produce. However, with support from the subsea industry there is potential to extract sustainable energy from the ocean at a lower cost than currently attainable.
“We hope this workshop will identify key areas which impact the wave and tidal sectors and how we can improve the economics of this market.”
Following the event a technical report will be collated presenting findings, priorities and recommendations to be addressed, creating targeted opportunities for the supply chain.