IEA-OES: Ocean energy advancements made across the globe in 2022

March 16, 2023, by Amir Garanovic

Ocean Energy Systems (OES), a technology collaboration program within the International Energy Agency (IEA), has provided an overview of key achievements and progress made in the ocean energy sector in its new annual report for 2022.

Sustainable Marine’s PLAT-I 6.40 platform deployed at Grand Passage in Nova Scotia (Courtesy of Sustainable Marine)

The comprehensive report provides an overview of national policies, research, and technology demonstration on ocean energy in member countries. Additionally, the report highlights the achievements and progress of IEA-OES collaborative projects.

The report has revealed that governments around the world are increasingly adopting new legislation and regulatory regimes to support offshore energy projects, with strategic approaches being taken by governments to tackle the challenges faced by the industry.

The report also identifies market incentives in some countries, such as the UK’s Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme, which awarded four contracts to tidal energy projects. For the first time, these contracts were separated from other more mature technologies.

According to the report, the industry is shifting from small-scale demonstrations and pilot projects to higher technology readiness levels. The accumulated operational hours of some devices demonstrate increased reliability and availability, giving confidence to scale-up the technology. Successful testing programs have been completed, and new devices are progressing to deployment and commissioning tests.

Several test sites around the world are playing a pivotal role in the testing, validation, and certification of technologies. In addition, several initiatives are making progress in providing clean energy to remote communities that lack access to the electrical grid and rely on fossil fuels for their energy supply.

Furthermore, the report shows that several countries continued with their funding programs fundamental for ocean energy projects in their journey for commercialization.

The ocean energy sector experienced record US budget support in 2022, while the European Commission also continued to support the development of the ocean energy sector through an array of activities and programs.

Yann-Hervé De Roeck, chair of IEA-OES in 2021-2022, said: “I am pleased to have witnessed such an acceleration of measured but concrete achievements by the marine renewable energy sector, echoed by a sincere awareness by policy makers that effective support and appropriate regulations are essential for MRE to contribute to the energy transition challenge.”

Matthijs Soede, the new elected chair of IEA-OES, added: “Once again, 2022 showed the need for a clean energy transition, as well as the growing importance of security of supply. It is crucial for governments, industries, and research organizations to engage in global collaboration to bring ocean energy technologies to market. Collaboration starts with knowledge sharing and this annual report offers an excellent overview of the ongoing developments in ocean energy.”

The report’s findings provide a positive outlook for the future of clean energy and highlight the significant potential of the ocean energy sector, according to IEA-OES.