The European tidal industry is at a critical stage. Successful demonstration of small-scale tidal arrays with lessons learnt for future large-scale projects is widely acknowledged as a key way to de-risk and kick-start the tidal energy industry. The DEMOTIDE project will design, build and operate a 4 x 1.5MW (6MW) turbine array at the MeyGen Phase 1B site, Pentland Firth, Scotland. The potential for build-out on the MeyGen site to 400 MW installed capacity, based on the available local high flow tidal resource, make this a site ripe for commercial exploitation. The DEMOTIDE consortium unites strong players with each of the required competencies to deliver this array. Leading technology supplier Marine Current Turbines (an Atlantis company) can rely on experience gained from operating its SeaGen tidal turbine system for several years. The participation of both MCT and Atlantis technology development teams is crucial to deliver robust, efficient turbines, fully specified to perform in challenging tidal site conditions. Effective installation plans are only possible through early involvement of an experienced marine contractor. DEME, comprising DEME Blue Energy and GeoSea, is a world leader in marine operations and owns a versatile fleet (jack-up platforms, DP, heavy-lift, barges, etc.) which can be applied to the tidal market. DEME subsidiary GeoSea will bring extensive offshore wind energy installation experience to the table. The combined involvement of DEME Blue Energy, Atlantis Resources, and French partner INNOSEA provides a strong route to exploitation of the results of DEMOTIDE across a portfolio of commercial tidal energy projects throughout Europe and abroad. Finally, local content and dissemination of the project results is ensured through involvement of Queen’s University Belfast and local contractors in Scotland for onshore works.

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.

WEDUSEA led by Irish Wave Energy Developer, Ocean Energy, will demonstrate a grid connected 1MW OE35 floating wave energy converter (known as the OE Buoy) at the European Marine Energy Test Site (EMEC) in Orkney, Scotland. This rigorous technical and environmental demonstration will happen over a 2 year period in Atlantic wave conditions with outcomes directly impacting policy, technical standards, public perception and investor confidence. The project will demonstrate that the technology is on a cost reduction trajectory in line with the EU SET Plan targets and will be a stepping stone to larger commercial array scale up and further industrialisation. The action will integrate sub components such as moorings and PTOs - improving efficiency, reliability, scalability, sustainability and circularity of the technology. The combined actions of the work programme are expected to reduce the LCOE for the technology from €361/MWh to €245/MWh, a 32% reduction. For a 20MW array the LCOE would reduce from €185/MWh to €127/MWh. The project has 3 clear phases, phase 1 the initial design phase leading into a Go/No Go, phase 2 Demonstration in which it is expected that the baseline device will generate in excess of 1,650 MWh over the deployment and Phase 3 Commercialisation and Dissemination which sees the capitalisation and exploitation of the results. Ocean Energy and other consortium companies will actively exploit the results through new innovations, products and services. The results will be disseminated to feed both environmental databases and IEC electrotechnical standards. This action will take wave energy beyond the state of the art, building on the partners experience in prior EU projects enabling arrays of reliable devices to achieve the 1GW target set out in the 2030 DG-ENER Offshore Renewable Energy Strategy. Planned engagement will create more public perception, empower and inform policy makers and de-risk larger scale investments to meet the 2050 targets.

This proposal is for the development of a novel wave energy converter whose primary coupling with the waves is through hydrodynamic lift forces. The objective is to determine the potential of this concept to produce renewable energy at a commercially competitive price whilst ensuring a minimal environmental/social impact. This will be achieved by a combination of numerical/physical modelling and desk-based studies of the structural design, the operational & maintenance requirements and the environmental/social impacts of the technology. The numerical/physical modelling will demonstrate the concept’s performance, thereby taking the concept to TRL4, whilst the desk-based studies will allow the socially-acceptable commercial potential to be determined. Wave energy is one of the few untapped sources of renewable energy that could make a significant contribution to the future energy system. However, a study of the literature and a patent search indicates that of the hundreds of concepts that have been developed only four couple to the waves through lift forces, whilst the rest couple through diffraction or buoyancy forces. However, coupling through lift forces has the significant advantage of reducing extreme loads (by reducing the circulation like a wind turbine) which facilitates survivability, and produces unidirectional rotation, which simplifies power extraction. Unfortunately, none of the current lift-based ave energy concepts have a high efficiency in all sea-states due to difficulties in maintaining a good lift-to-drag ratio. The novel ideas in this proposal are designed to achieve this and thus enable the commercial development of wave energy and the acceleration of clean energy solutions.

In the ELEMENT project, a partnership of world-leading academic, industrial and research organisations will develop and validate an innovative tidal turbine control system, using the tidal turbine itself as a sensor, to deliver a step change improvement in the performance of the tidal energy sector. By enhancing an existing tidal turbine controller and combining with a state-of-the-art control technology developed for wind turbines, the ELEMENT project will use behavioural modelling and artificial intelligence to optimise performance and deliver an adaptive control system that will slash the lifetime cost of energy by 17%, driving the EU tidal energy sector to commercial reality. The objective of the project are to: - Optimise the control system of a tidal turbine, using behavioural modelling to reduce predicted loads - Use improved understanding of turbine behaviour to maximise energy yield - Optimise tidal turbine design for world-leading improved performance and reduced cost - Develop and demonstrate adaptable control system technology with a wide range of application - Minimise environmental impacts by integrating environmental monitoring into the control system - Increased resistance to marine environment & extended lifetime of tidal turbines - Maximise shared learning between EU projects - Improve the knowledge base regarding impacts of tidal energy on local communities - Increase public support for tidal energy projects Activities will include: - Integrating state-of-the-art technology from the tidal and wind energy sectors - Demonstrating a prototype system using onshore bench-testing, tow testing, and in-sea deployment at two real tidal sites - Demonstration on subsea and floating devices, with geared and direct-drive drive trains - Environmental and socioeconomic assessment of tidal energy at a regional, national and EU level - Independent verification of project results - Knowledge Transfer via a targeted communication programme