Bridging the gap to commercialisation of wave energy technology using pre-commercial procurement

ongoing

The global potential to harness the power of ocean waves is huge. Europe has 44% of wave energy patents as well as some of the best resources on its Atlantic coastlines. Wave energy technology has, however, not yet achieved commercial viability and conventional public technology innovation support schemes have had only limited success. Convergence/consolidation is needed to deliver the technology the market requires. Without this, investors and industrial developers will not have the confidence to engage with the sector and help make it a significant contributor to the future low carbon energy mix. EuropeWave builds on the success of the regionally funded PCP programme known as Wave Energy Scotland (WES), set up in 2014 and expands this concept to the European level as mandated by the SET Plan Implementation Plan for ocean energy. WES will be the coordinator of the proposed EuropeWave project and lead a ‘Buyers Group’ of public authorities from the UK (Scotland - WES) and the Basque Country (EVE). The consortium is completed by Ocean Energy Europe, the sector’s representative body, who will enable the widest possible engagement with those influential stakeholders able to maximise the environmental, economic and social benefits of wave energy technology for Europe. EuropeWave brings together over €22.5m of national, regional and EU funding to provide the boost to Europe’s wave energy innovation community necessary to transition to commercial viability. This will be achieved by procuring a phased competitive programme of R&D to pull forward those technologies that can demonstrate the best potential to achieve the technical and economic performance metrics that will make them investor-ready. Approximately 7 technologies are expected to enter the programme via an open OJEU call with the best performing technologies completing a physical demonstration in the marine environment.