The overall objective for the project is to achieve a successful demonstration of the novel designs and materials for an ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) platform capable of converting solar heat energy stored in the oceans surrounding the Overseas Countries and Territories of the EU, Small Islands and Developing States, and the Asian and African continent into reliable, baseload power with an economical cost model. The following objectives have been identified: Technical Specification: Design prototype components using circular materials and computational Modelling tools (Predictive Modelling tools developed and/or refined) Research Material Properties Build and Installation of Demonstrator: Floating Platform & testing in controlled and real-worldsettings Econometric, Environmental and Social Impact Assessments This project marries both technical advancements in marine engineering and new materials and computational modelling enabling lower CAPEX expenditure for Marine Offshore OTEC. These engineering and materials gains are transferable to other renwable energies and their offshore installations, as well as more generally for marine engineering needs. Social, Environmental and Economic impacts are taken account of in this proposal and are the key mechanism for knowlegde creationa nd dissemination.

Solar photovoltaic (PV) has become the world’s fastest-growing energy technology, with an annual global market surpassing for the first time in 2018 the 100 Gigawatt (GW) level and cumulative capacity of 583.5 GW in 2019. However, in order to produce large amounts of energy and to avoid increased energy transmission costs, solar power plants must be located close to the demand centres. Yet, it is a problem to require vast surfaces of land near densely populated areas where the power is consumed. This is specially a problem in Europe, which by far has the smallest average size of a solar PV plant in the world. Floating PV (FPV) plants have opened up new opportunities for facing these land restrictions. Nevertheless, this market is currently concentrated in reservoirs and lakes. Offshore and near-shore FPV systems are still in a nascent stage due to additional challenges faced by non-sheltered sea conditions: waves and winds are stronger, implying that mooring, anchoring and dynamic load capacity becomes even more critical due to the increased frequency of high wave- and wind-loads. The BOOST will address these challenges with a new FPV system partly inspired by the floating and mooring technology that has been used over 20 years in rough Norwegian waters by the fish farming industry, combined with a disruptive and patented floating hydro-elastic membrane (<1mm thickness). The hydro-elastic membrane is attached to an outer perimeter of buoyant tubing so that the floater is not dragged under by the mooring, even in strong currents, winds and waves, similar to the effect of oil on troubled water. The validation of this technology in non-sheltered sea waters lead consortium expects to reach an installed capacity of 1,750 MW for the 5 years (6.2% of the SAM), contributing to avoid CO2 emission of 4,120 kt (but each PV plant will last for at least 25 years, so the long-term impact is 5 times larger). It will generate to the consortium accumulated profits above €94m.

In ELICAN, a strong team of complementary European companies with worldwide leading presence in the Wind Energy industry join forces to provide the market with a disruptive high-capacity and cost-reducing integrated substructure system for deep offshore wind energy. The technology is exceptionally fitted to meet the technical and logistical challenges of the sector as it moves into deeper locations with larger turbines, while allowing for drastic cost reduction. This project will design, build, certify and fully demonstrate in operative environment a deep water substructure prototype supporting Adwen’s 5MW offshore wind turbine, the be installed in the Southeast coast of Las Palmas (Canary Islands). It will become the first bottom-fixed offshore wind turbine in all of Southern Europe and the first one worldwide to be installed with no need of heavy-lift vessels. The revolutionary substructure consists in an integrated self-installing precast concrete telescopic tower and foundation that will allow for crane-free offshore installation of the complete substructure and wind turbine, thus overcoming the constraints imposed by the dependence on heavy-lift vessels. It will allow for a full inshore preassembly of the complete system, which is key to generate a highly industrialized low-cost manufacturing process with fast production rates and optimized risk control. The main benefits to be provided by this ground-breaking technology are: • Significant cost reduction (>35%) compared with current solutions. • Direct scalability in terms of turbine size, water depth, infrastructure and installation means. • Complete independence of heavy-lift vessels • Excellently suited for fast industrialized construction. • Robust and durable concrete substructure for reduced OPEX costs and improved asset integrity. • Suitable for most soil conditions, including rocky seabeds. • Enhanced environmental friendliness regarding both impact on sea life and carbon footprint.

The main project objective is to reduce the cost of energy (LCOE) of floating wind by 50% through the validation of the "PivotBuoy", an innovative subsystem that reduces the costs of mooring systems and floating platforms, allows faster and cheaper installation and a more reliable and sustainable operation. The PivotBuoy system combines the advantages of Single Point Mooring systems (SPM - pre-installation of the mooring and connection system using small vessels) with those of tension-leg systems (TLPs - weight reduction, reduced mooring length and enhanced stability), enabling a radical weight reduction of 50% to 90% in floating wind systems compared to current spar and semi-submersible systems but also enabling a critical simplification in the installation of traditional TLP systems. The PivotBuoy concept, initially conceived by its founder while at MIT, is currently at TRL3 after the proof of concept in a wave tank at 1:64 scale and it is the result of years of experience. The project proposes validating the concept at PLOCAN test site, integrating a part-scale prototype of the PivotBuoy single point mooring system in a 225kW downwind floating platform developed by X1 WIND. By testing in a relevant environment, the project will also validate critical innovations related to assembly, installation and O&M techniques, reaching TRL5 at the project end. The impact of the proposed innovations is sector wide: the system can be integrated not only in X1 WIND downwind platform but in any other floating platforms using single point moorings systems in the wind and in other sectors such as wave energy, tidal and oil&gas industries. The project consortium, combining experienced industrial partners from the oil&gas, naval and offshore wind sectors with cutting-edge R&D centres, will also bring additional innovations in components, materials and installation and O&M techniques, advancing the state-of-the-art of the floating wind sector.