International collaboration to cut ocean energy costs

 
A major international Oceanera-Net collaborative project, involving seven partners from across Europe and worth €1.8 million, is driving forward the development of cost effective components, specifically designed for the reliable and sustainable delivery of ocean energy.

The project aims to establish the requirements for monitoring, control and connection components for wave and tidal energy arrays, ensuring that the next generation of these devices is optimised to improve reliability and cost effectiveness, ORE Catapult informed.

The 36-month Oceanera-Net project is led by Spain’s Tecnalia, with partners Zunibal, Ditrel Industrial, WavEC Offshore Renewables, Smartbay Ireland, the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult, and the Energy Cluster Association of the Basque Country

Pablo Ruiz-Minguela, Head of Wave Energy for Tecnalia, said: “If we want to succeed in the development of ocean energy technologies, industries and research organisations need to work together towards cost reduction and high reliability. Oceanera-Net gives the perfect framework for this collaboration to happen amongst some of the most dynamic regions and countries in Europe.”

The project is expected to further advance the development of four critical components for ocean energy: safety monitoring and control device, wave measurement buoy, umbilical cable monitoring device, and an underwater device-to-cable connector for a floating energy converter.