Horizon Europe: Demonstration of sustainable wave energy farms

Expected Outcome

Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• De-risking wave energy technology development and increased bankability/insurability of wave energy.
• Increased availability and improved market confidence in the technology.
  Increased knowledge on positive and negative impacts of ocean energy on its environment and in the case of negative impacts to protected habitats and species proposals for necessary mitigation measures.
• Publicly available data collected from the demonstration/pilot structure including support structure.

Scope

Demonstration of sustainable wave energy pilot farms (minimum 2.0 MW installed capacity and at least 4 devices) in full operational conditions for long periods of time is essential to advance this sector. It is the way to bridge the gap from technology development to market development while reducing costs, reducing risks and attracting investors for future commercial projects. The farms should be composed of several devices of the same type.

The wave energy farms have to be connected to the electricity grid. To focus on the technologies with the greatest chances of success, the single wave energy device to be used in the array deployment is expected to be satisfactorily demonstrated at full scale before, with limited changes to incorporate the learnings. Any change on the wave energy device may be incremental but should not involve fundamental changes to the device design or composition. The innovation component should mainly lie on the pilot farm systems and supporting industrial manufacturing activities that enable a cost-effective and high-performance pilot farm. Where established, stage-gate processes can help ensure that this approach is followed.

The project is expected to deploy a wave energy farm with a minimum capacity of 2 MW and operate the farm at least 2 years in the lifetime of the project. After the project it is expected that the farm will continue to be operated for at least 8 years. The project should develop and execute an effective operation and maintenance programme.

Proposals are expected to address also all the following for both the supporting infrastructure for the farm and for the individual devices themselves:

• Industrial design and manufacturing processes including set up of an industrial supply chain, circularity of (critical) raw materials, sustainability, scalability, installation methods, transport, operation & maintenance, supply chains and the related digital infrastructures.
• Projects are requested to demonstrate the technologies at sea while respecting existing environmental regulatory framework. Necessary mitigation measures should be integrated to protect habitats and species. Present an environmental monitoring plan to be implemented during the demonstration action. Environmental monitoring data should be open source and be shared with EMODNET and the IEA OES environmental task.

Deadline: 16 January 2024

More information: Funding and Tenders