Annual Report 2017
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Executive Summary

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INTRODUCTION

Ocean Energy Systems (OES) is the short name for the Technology Collaboration Programme on Ocean Energy Systems under the International Energy Agency (IEA). This Annual Report presents an overview of the activities undertaken within OES in 2017, as well as updated country reviews prepared by the
Delegates.

The year 2017 marked the beginning of the fourth 5-year mandate (2017 – 2022) of the OES.

The Strategic Plan for this next five years continues to be the guiding document for the OES work programme. The development of ocean energy has been slower than expected. A longerterm vision is required to see the development of ocean energy to the stage where it becomes a viable, cost-effective and reliable alternative to other forms of renewable energy. The added value of the OES arises from good, truly international cooperation. OES is the only intergovernmental, multinational organization in the ocean energy sector, independent of any commercial interests and composed of active members, that encompass the full range of interests from government policy to industry developments. For this new work period, OES will bring added value to national activities by coordinated efforts on priority topics for the whole sector and by delivering clear key technology policy messages to decision makers.

The OES has 25 members, which provide a broad international base of information, sharing experience and knowledge and further a diversified representation of interests: members are from governmental departments, utilities, universities and research organizations, energy agencies and industry associations. This is one of the benefits of joining OES: participants gain an international perspective on ocean energy issues, opportunities and present challenges.

The OES is always looking for new members across the globe, and key representatives from potential new member countries are encouraged to attend meetings as Observers.

The OES international co-operation facilitates:

  • Securing access to advanced R&D teams in the participating countries;
  • Developing a harmonized set of measures and testing protocols for the testing of prototypes;
  • Reducing national costs by collaborating internationally;
  • Creating valuable international contacts between government, industry and science;
  • Sharing information and networking.

This Executive Summary provides a brief summary of the OES Annual Report for the year 2017. It synthesizes the main achievements in the OES collaborative activities and presents relevant policies and projects by each OES member country. It also includes, as in previous years, an interview on a specific topic, this year about environmental issues on ocean energy: Andrea Copping, coordinator of the work done under Task 4 (known as Annex IV) gives her views to six questions from OES.

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OES KEY ACTIVITIES IN 2017
The OES held two ExCo Meetings in 2017: The 32nd and 33rd meetings were convened in the Principality of Monaco (9 – 10 May 2016), and Chennai, India (14 - 15 November 2017). The meeting in Monaco was organised for the occasion of the International event on Renewable Energies in Monaco, EVER2017, organised by Monaco Sustainable Development, a forum of specialists coming from universities and industries, involved in R&D projects in the area of ecological vehicles or renewable energies. In India, the OES Delegates participated as well in the workshop ’Harnessing Energy from the Oceans - A Global Scenario’, organised by the Indian Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), in Chennai, in which an inaugural session of the Indian wave powered navigational buoy and OTEC facility were organised.

The overall Work Programme of the OES is headed by an Executive Committee composed of representatives from each participating country and organisation, while the management of individual research projects (Tasks) is the responsibility of Operating Agents. The present Programme consists in thirteen Tasks, of which ten are currently operational.

The main achievements in these Tasks are presented in chapter 2.

Task 4 (known as Annex IV) continued to collect information on new wave and tidal projects and for ongoing research studies stored as metadata in Tethys, the online knowledge management system. During 2017, Annex IV co-hosted 2 workshops, 4 webinars and 2 online expert forums. In 2017, one more Short Science Summary - “Entanglement with Marine Renewable Energy Mooring Lines” - was created under Annex IV in addition to the existing 8 short quick-reference one-page documents accompanying the “State of the Science” (SOS) report summarizing the current understanding of environmental risks and uncertainties between ocean energy devices and the marine environment.

The Web Gis Database for ocean energy developed under Task 6 and maintained by Fraunhofer IEE, continues to expand and to increase user interactions.

Task 7 on the Cost of Energy for Ocean Energy Technology was mentioned as one important topic that the ExCo should continue to address and it was suggested further progress in order to build confidence in the ocean energy sector.

Under Task 9 the “International Vision for Ocean Energy” brochure was released in early 2017 and also translated into Spanish.

Task 10 on wave energy modelling verification and validation has progressed in 2017 with the publication of a joint scientific paper and organisation of 4 meetings and
webinars.

A group of 8 Member Countries - China, France, India, Korea, Japan, Mexico, Monaco and Singapore - have been working together on OTEC issues under Task 11 and a first webinar was organised by China during the year.

In 2017, the following two new tasks were initiated:

  • Task 12: To establish a common international stage gate metrics framework to be used by technology developers, investors and funders;
     
  • Task 13: To validate numerical tools for tidal energy.

Further, a number of other topics were discussed as potential new tasks:

  • Assessment of the number of jobs related to the development of the ocean energy sector;
  • Ocean energy in insular conditions;
  • Open water testing to exchange information and experience on all aspects of planning, development, operation, and usage of open-water test facilities.

In 2017, the OES was present in 5 relevant international events in Spain, France, Belgium, UK, Canada and Mexico.


 

OCEAN ENERGY POLICIES IN MEMBER COUNTRIES


NATIONAL STRATEGIES FOR OCEAN ENERGY
OES countries have different available resources and their own unique energy markets, and therefore distinctive paths for ocean energy development and different policies are followed by each government. Several countries have their national action plans with renewable energy targets, and a few countries specify targets for ocean energy. Worldwide, targets for renewable energies continue to be a primary means for governments to express their commitment to renewable energy deployment. As of yearend 2017, 9 of the 25 members had specific ocean energy targets (see Table 1).

Action plans or strategic documents are intended to set out an agreed vision for the ocean energy sector. These plans usually outline the actions required by both private and public sectors to facilitate the development and deployment of ocean energy technology. As of year-end 2017, 9 of the 25 members had specific strategic documents for ocean energy or key action plans to stimulate R&D on ocean energy (see Table 1).

Roadmaps for the development of ocean energy have been articulated in a number of countries, providing longterm frameworks for developing policies and supporting actions. Some of these roadmaps are technology focused providing a guide for mobilising national efforts down a deployment pathway towards a target. These roadmaps can provide focused and coherent approaches to technology development in the ocean energy sector and their successful implementation depends upon a number of complex interactions between commercial, political and technical aspects. As of year-end 2017, roadmaps have been prepared by 8 countries and the European Commission in order to initiate a debate about the pathway for ocean energy. The pathways are usually analysed in terms of economic competitiveness, employment opportunities and energy security.

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MARKET DEPLOYMENT POLICIES
Different policy instruments are available to support ocean energy. As of year-end 2017, 7 countries (UK, The Netherlands, Denmark, France, Italy, Canada and Japan) have adopted feed-in policies (FIT) making this the most widely adopted regulatory mechanism to promote ocean energy in the OES member countries (see Table 3). Ireland is the most recent country in the process of approving a FIT programme. In UK, the support scheme for wave and tidal energy is based on “Contracts for Difference (CfD)” auctions introduced in 2014 replacing the Renewable Obligations system in the UK. Portugal abolished its FIT policy in 2017.

Tradable green certificates are used in four countries (Belgium, Norway, Sweden and Korea). In Korea, the Tradable Renewable Energy Certificates (REC) supplement the Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) policy. The United States relies particularly on tax incentives to support renewables like the Federal Production Tax Credit (PTC) and the Business Energy Investment Tax Credit (ITC) in general.

Of the 24 member countries, 7 do not have any specific market deployment incentives for ocean energy.


OTHER POLICIES IMPACTING ON OCEAN ENERGY
The progress of ocean energy projects in all the OES member countries continues to face challenges in relation to consenting processes. There is a consensus that it is necessary to streamline and accelerate the consenting processes by removing excessive administrative and cost burdens.

Governing ocean energy as a specific sector is rare. Rather ocean energy tends to be administered through existing legal instruments for marine development or for renewable energy in general. Regulatory and administrative policies and frameworks, such as consenting, environmental impact and planning procedures, can simplify the process of deploying technology by clearly instructing developers on how to secure consent for a project.

Some policies have been implemented to reduce administrative barriers such as: i) One-stop-shop approach, e.g. one responsible authorisation agency acting as a single point of contact for dealing with consents. Ii) Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) in order to coordinate decisions on the uses of marine resources, iii) Guidance and advice on consenting of ocean energy device deployments and iv) Ocean testing facilities at different scales, providing grid infrastructure and equipment to measure the resource.

 

TABLE 1: NATIONAL STRATEGIES FOR OCEAN ENERGY DEVELOPMENT AND MARKET INCENTIVES

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COUNTRY HIGHLIGHTS IN 2017


BELGIUM

  • Laminaria has raised €2 million to support the development of its wave energy technology and to start a full scale demonstration project at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney, Scotland (LAMWEC project).
     
  • The construction of the Belgium Marine Energy Centre, including a new coastal and offshore basin, where small to medium scale test devices can be tested, begun in 2017.


CANADA

  • Activity in wave, tidal, and river current energy made important strides across Canada in 2017, positioning the sector to provide a clean electricity solution that can contribute to a low-carbon economy for Canada and globally.
     
  • A number of policies and programmes at the federal and provincial levels focused on climate change and clean growth were established in 2017.
     
  • Several small scale technologies and projects were successful deployed. Notably, most of these projects were focused on remote and Indigenous community applications to displace the use of diesel fuel.
     
  • Cape Sharp Tidal’s turbine was successfully recovered from the Fundy Ocean Research Center for Energy (FORCE) site in Nova Scotia. Ongoing environmental monitoring by FORCE and Cape Sharp Tidal are assisting to better understand the natural environment and the potential effects of turbines.
     
  • The Canadian marine renewable energy sector continued to conduct important R&D and innovation activities through FORCE, the West Coast Wave Initiative (WCWI), Canadian Hydrokinetic Turbine Test Center (CHTTC), and Wave Environment Research Center (WERC).


CHINA

  • In 2017 the Chinese Government supported marine renewable energy projects with a total budget of RMB 137 million granted to 4 marine energy projects. Since 2010 China has committed to date approximately about RMB 1.25 billion to marine energy RD&D.
     
  • In February 2017 the Government released the “Regulations for the Trial Implementation of Renewable Energy Green Power Certificate” (REGPC).
     
  • A new offshore floating cage with a wave power supply system conducted by the Youlian shipyard and the Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion, has been investigated; other types of supply schemes powered by OTEC and salinity gradient have also been studied.
     
  • China has been investing in new test sites: a test site in Weihai, Shandong, a tidal current test site in Zhoushan, Zhejiang developed by the China Three Gorges Corporation and a wave energy test site in Wanshan, Guangdong.
     
  • The Sharp Eagle wave energy demonstration project (100 kW) has been upgraded for application on remote islands and was tested from March to December 2017.
     
  • The LHD tidal current energy demonstration project has now 2 turbines installed and connected to the grid; a new 300 kW horizontal-axis turbine is being developed by LHD and Blue Shark Power System, planned to be installed in July 2018.
     
  • Zhairuoshan Tidal Stream Energy Power Demonstration Station has been operational since 2015 with a 120 kW turbine and it will soon accommodate a new 600 kW turbine. Other projects are being developed and planned to be tested in this station.


DENMARK

  • During the autumn of 2017 the Danish partnership presented a strategy for wave energy to the Danish Parliament.
     
  • Grid connection at the DanWEC test site is under consideration.
     
  • Floating Power Plant has successfully tested a grid connected ½ scale prototype over 2 years and is currently developing 3 commercial projects with DP Energy in Scotland, Wales and Ireland.
     
  • Other active developers in Denmark are Resen Waves, Weptos, Wavepiston, Crestwing, Wave Dragon and Exowave which have done progresses during the year.


EUROPEAN COMMISSION

  • In 2017, a Temporary Working Group for Ocean Energy set up an implementation plan with concrete R&I activities, and funding opportunities. The group is composed by 10 Member States and relevant industrial partners, chaired by national representatives from Ireland and co-chaired by the European Technology & Innovation Platform on Ocean Energy (ETIP Ocean). The Implementation plan is expected to be endorsed in 2018.
     
  • A stable ocean energy sector is expected to contribute significantly to the growth of EU maritime regions, with estimates suggesting that the ocean energy sector could generate over 400,000 jobs by 2050 if the ndustrial target to deploy 100 GW of installed capacity is met.
     
  • A study is currently underway to address the longterm failures of the ocean energy market with the aim to identifying mechanisms to support market formation and mobilise investment into the sector.
     
  • A tender has been launched addressing the monitoring of wave and tidal energy devices in order to remove uncertainties over their potential environmental impacts.
     
  • Under Horizon 2020 more than €124 million for ocean energy R&D to 24 different projects have been granted since 2010.
     
  • There are several funded projects supporting open sea testing: MaRINET 2 and Foresea offer developers access to testing infrastructures; Marinerg-I is developing a vision to an integrated European ResearchInfrastructure for the development of ocean energy technologies; Met-Certified looks to the development of standards and certification schemes for ocean energy technologies.
     
  • Fourteen EU Projects on ocean energy are currently funded, five of which were awarded in 2017. Five pre-commercial projects are ongoing with support through NER300.
     
  • In 2017, Atlantis Resources Limited started the due-diligence process to obtain support through the InnovFIn EDP scheme, from the European Investment Bank (EIB) together with the European Commission.


FRANCE

  • A new law to simplify the deployment of marine renewable energies is under discussion; following the Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) consultation launched in 2016, dedicated sites for ocean energy projects are now being identified.
     
  • The tidal sector is expecting a call for tenders at a commercial scale with two high-energy zones having already been identified: Raz Blanchard and the Fromveur Strait in Brittany.
     
  • In 2017, 6 R&D projects awarded national funding. These public-private collaborative projects tackle technological bottlenecks and environmental issues on marine renewable energies.
     
  • Two French Sea Clusters - Pôle Mer Bretagne-Atlantique and Pôle Mer Méditerranée – have marine energies in their roadmaps.
     
  • Much activity is going on at the French open sea test sites (SEM-REV, SENNEOH, Paimpol Bréhat and Brest Saint-Anne).
     
  • EEL Energy is developing an undulating membrane inspired by biomimicry (fish swimming) to generate electricity from marine or river currents, which has recently been tested at Brest Harbour.
     
  • Sabella is planning to continue its demonstration installation on Ushant, an island at the western end of Britanny, within the scope of the ICE project (2017 – 2020), “Intelligent Community Energy”.
     
  • Naval Energies launched, in July 2017, the construction of a facility in Cherbourg dedicated to the assembly of 25 turbines/year for the development of the Normandie Hydro tidal turbine pilot farm project. • Guinard Energies proceeded to several operational tests at sea in Brest (Brittany) in 2017, with a 3.5 kW hydrokinetic device combined with solar panels and batteries.


GERMANY

  • In 2017, the Government introduced a market-based auction scheme for renewables; however for hydro power plants (including ocean energy) fixed Feed-in Tariffs continue to be applied.
     
  • Up to now, around 12 technology projects related to the development of components and concepts for tidal turbines and wave energy components have been funded by the Government. The new funding programme is expected to be released in the summer of 2018.
     
  • SCHOTTEL HYDRO decided to discontinue their “TRITON” platform and are now moving to smaller floating platforms. The company is however continuing to provide their “SIT” tidal turbines and custom power take-off systems to third party tidal developers like SME, QED Naval and Minesto.
     
  • NEMOS with other German partners is continuing the development of its wave energy conversion technology. The construction of the full scale prototype started in February at a Belgian shipyard and the installation in the North Sea near the Port of Ostend was permitted in June 2017.
     
  • SINN Power started a project in August 2017 that will run until July 2019 and is supposed to deliver four additional wave energy converters to the existing test site in Greece. They also have plans for an installation at an organic shrimp farm in Cape Verde.
     
  • REAC Energy tested a single unit of their modular tidal turbine “StreamCube” in Orkney waters in October 2017.
     
  • The project STENSEA – “Stored Energy in the Sea” was tested in Lake Constance, Germany, and is currently being developed at larger scale.

 

IRELAND

  • In 2017, the Offshore Renewable Energy Development Plan, prepared 3 years ago, was reviewed by relevant stakeholders at government and industry level to ensure continued focus on appropriate priority areas.
     
  • A public consultation focused on the design options of the new Renewable Electricity Support Scheme in Ireland was held in September 2017 and feedback is expected during 2018.
     
  • Significant steps were taken in 2017 to further develop Irish testing facilities. At the Atlantic Marine Energy Test Site (AMETS), a foreshore lease has been awarded for the site, planning permission for onshore aspects have also been secured and grid connection work has commenced.
     
  • GKinetic carried out tests on an improved prototype at the Limerick docks.
     
  • SeaPower tested a prototype at Galway Bay test site from November 2016 until March 2017.
     
  • OE Buoy is progressing to test a half scale model in US Navy WETS facility in Hawaii in late 2018 and Westwave project is ongoing to securing the required permits and conducting site investigations in the Irish coast.


ITALY

  • In 2017, the Government launched two calls for proposals to grant funding for strategic research activities, including the Blue Energy sector.
     
  • There is an increasing interest in the exploitation of wave and tidal energy converters in the country and a number of new developments are progressing. ENEA continues carrying out an intense coordination activity aimed at bringing together the major Italian actors in the ocean energy sector.
     
  • The first full scale prototype of REWEC3, an OWC integrated in a breakwater developed by the Università Mediterranea di Reggio Calabria is under construction in the port of Civitavecchia (Rome, Italy) with a total length of 578 m. Total installed power will be 2.5 MW.
     
  • Another breakwater based on the wave overtopping system has been developed by Università degli studi della Campania in the port of Naples since 2015, and its performance is continuously being monitored.
     
  • Politecnico di Torino has been developing two wave energy devices: ISWEC, based on gyroscopic technology, tested offshore the coast of Pantelleria since 2016 and PEWEC in collaboration with ENEA.
     
  • A first full scale prototype of the ocean current energy system, known as GEM or Ocean’s Kite, was deployed in Venice lagoon.
     
  • KOBOLD turbine built by the Ponte di Archimede and installed in 2000 in the Strait of Messina is still in operation and grid connected.


REPUBLIC OF KOREA

  • The Korean Government has a new Plan for Ocean Energy for 2030 which includes the construction of 1.5 GW ocean energy infrastructures and promotion of new industries in this sector.
     
  • Since 2000, the Government has invested a total of USD 200 million for ocean energy technology development projects.
     
  • Wave energy technology in breakwaters, on remote islands, remains a topic of intensive research in Korea.
     
  • The 500 kW Yongsoo OWC pilot plant offshore Jeju Island completed in July 2016 is now planned to be utilized as an offshore substation for open sea testing. The 300 kW Floating Pendulum Wave Energy Converter developed by KRISO is expected to be tested there in 2018.
     
  • A test site for tidal energy converters with 4.5 MW grid connected capacity is being carried out, planned to be installed at the southwestern waters of Korean peninsula, close to the Uldolmok tidal current pilot plant.
     
  • An active-controlled, high efficiency and low cost 200 kW Tidal Energy Converter (TEC) developed by Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology (KIOST) will be installed in the Uldolmok test site for open sea test in early 2018.
     
  • The 20 KW OTEC and 200 KW HOTEC plants have been in operation; performance tests are being conducted by a subsidiary research centre of KRISO dedicated to deep sea water applications.
     
  • For the commercialization phase of OTEC, KRISO is developing a 1 MW OTEC demonstration plant, which is expected to be tested in 2018 at the east coast of South Korea and then transferred to Tarawa, Kiribati, in 2019. The Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) has already been done.


MEXICO

  • To strengthen the operation of the Mexican Energy Innovation Centres (CEMIEs), the Ministry of Energy developed Technological Roadmaps (TRM) for different renewable energies, including ocean energy.
     
  • Mexico estimates that ocean energy can contribute with 500 to 1000 MW of installed electrical capacity by 2030.
     
  • CEMIE-Oceano is developing two wave energy projects to be installed at the sea, in Sauzal Port, Baja California and at Lazaro Cardenas, Michoacan. Further, an OTEC facility for installation in Acapulco, Guerrero, is being investigated.


MONACO

  • On the instigation of H.S.H. Prince Albert II, the environment and subjects related to sustainable development are among the most important political priorities in the State of Monaco, on both a national and international level. Their Climate and Energy Plan includes technical, regulatory, financial and awareness-raising campaigns.
     
  • A dedicated funding instrument has been created for innovative projects.
     
  • Ocean energy activities in Monaco are related with the demonstration of sea water heat pumps to generate energy: 80 sea water heat pumps produce 20% of the energy consumed in the Principality (about 191 GWh/ year). Many buildings located on the coast benefit from this reversible system, for heating in winter and air-conditioning in summer.


THE NETHERLANDS

  • Several institutions joined forces in a trade association called the EWA (Netherlands Energy from Water Agency).
     
  • A generic national existing subsidy scheme (SDE) has been opened for tidal current, wave energy and free flow energy.
     
  • SeaQurrent started the developed of their tidal kite in 2017.
     
  • EDstack, a salinity plant on Afsluitdijk signed a contract with four partners for scaling up to a 1 MW demo pilot plant.
     
  • Bluerise has made significant progress and signed a Joint Venture agreement for the construction of a 21 MW thermal Deep Seawater District Cooling system in Jamaica and is further progressing with Curaçao project consisting of the development and operation of a 10 MW thermal Deep Seawater District Cooling system, combined with 500 kW OTEC power generation.


NEW ZEALAND

  • The NZ Government has a long-running commitment to a goal of 90% renewable electricity supply by 2025, with an additional target of 100% renewable electricity supply by 2035 being introduced in late 2017.
     
  • The US-based company NWEI, in partnership with NZ-based Energy Hydraulics (EHL), and others, concluded testing of the Azura Wave device at the US Navy’s Wave Energy Test Site at the Marine Corps Base Hawaii. This project is a continuation and evolution of the initial technology development in New Zealand known as WET-NZ.


NORWAY

  • The Norwegian Energy Agency, Enova, offers capital grants for full scale ocean energy demonstration projects. Further, Innovation Norway has been running a programme supporting prototypes within “Environmental friendly technology”, including ocean energy.
     
  • In Norway, a grid connected wave energy buoy, Wave- EL, from the Swedish company Waves4Power, was launched in June 2017, at the Runde Environmental Centre (REC).
     
  • There are a number of other planned deployments, from 3 active Norwegian companies, Tidetec, Havkraft and Deep River.


PORTUGAL

  • In 2017, the Portuguese Government approved the Industrial Strategy for Oceanic Renewable Energies (EI-ERO) with a set of measures for wave energy and floating offshore wind.
     
  • Under the new funding mechanism “Fundo Azul” (Blue Fund) to develop the ocean economy, tenders were opened during 2017 for ocean energy projects.
     
  • The Institute of Mechanical Engineering (IDMEC) at IST has been concentrated on the development of new types of oscillating water column (OWCs) converters and self-rectifying air turbines.
     
  • IDMEC/IST, jointly with the Portuguese company Kymaner, designed a prototype of a biradial self-rectifying air turbine with a new type of fixed guide vanes and a fast valve under the EU project OPERA led by Tecnalia. The turbine was installed at one of the OWCs of the Mutriku breakwater (Basque Country, Northern Spain) and has been tested since June 2017.
     
  • In 2017 AW-Energy continued to work with Portuguese authorities to license the FOAK project and also their first wave energy park in Peniche - the project called “Ondas de Peniche” winner of the NER 300.
     
  • The UK-based tidal energy developer Oceanflow Energy has been testing their Evopod E1 in the South of Portugal, at Ria Formosa, within a EU funded project SCORE, running since 2016.
     
  • Pico power plant in Azores was still operational and grid connected during 2017.


SINGAPORE

  • In 2017, the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) has secured investments from six clean energy companies worth $500 million for next five years.
     
  • The Sentosa Tidal Test Site aims to showcase tidal energy extraction as a feasible and sustainable energy generating technology in the country and to provide opportunities to develop local technologies. Recent developments on this test site include the deployments of tidal turbines on floating barges.
     
  • The Energy Research Institute at Nanyang Technological University (ERI@N) has been working with international partners in developing and test bedding tidal in-stream energy systems for island conditions with micro grids architecture, such the project at Bintuni Bay, West Papua, Indonesia, with Schottel Hydro.
     
  • Pulau Semakau, an island south of mainland Singapore, has been used for the development of energy technologies suited for tropical conditions, under the REIDS project. REIDS will integrate multiple renewables and novel technologies such as power-to-gas technologies and smart hybrid grids, and enable the development of solutions suited for small islands, isolated villages, and emergency power supplies.


SPAIN

  • The so-called MARMOK-A-5 device, developed by OCEANTEC celebrated 1 year of trials, connected to the grid at BIMEP, with 1000 hours of operation. The prototype development received funding from the Basque Energy Agency and is part of the OPERA project funded by the European Commission.
     
  • The Mutriku wave power plant at the Basque Country in the North of Spain has completed six years of continuous operation reaching a record of cumulative energy from waves powered to the grid of almost 1.5 GWh.
     
  • At Plocan, two submarine cables (5 MW/13,2 kV) started to be installed in 2017 expected to be fully commissioned during the first semester of 2018.
     
  • A wave-pumped desalination project is expected to be installed in 2018 at PLOCAN, promoted by the company Tveter Power.
     
  • Several test campaigns were carried out at BiMEP in 2017 including the oceanographic buoy ANTEIA, developed by the company ZUNIBAL, and the 6 months survivability trials of the electric subsea connector Konekta2 conducted by DITREL.
     
  • Wedge Global has been testing a prototype on Canary Islands, accumulating roughly 4 years, continuously in the Atlantic Ocean. The company is also developing SMARTWEC Project funded by SODERCAN (Cantabria Regional Government) aiming to analyse the technical-economic viability of a wave energy farm off the Cantabrian coast.
     
  • Magallanes Renovables finished its 2 MW floating platform in April 2017 and has started its mooring and towing tests before the installation at EMEC after the winter period.


SWEDEN

  • Since 2015, the Swedish Energy Agency has been running a national ocean energy programme with a total budget of around €5,7 million for 4 years. The programme is now being evaluated in parallel with the planning of a new programme stage.
     
  • At the Lysekil wave energy research test site at the west coast of Sweden a signal cable and a 230 V cable was installed during 2017. A Seabased wave power plant was connected to the land cable in June.
     
  • The Sotenäs Project initiated in November 2011 has until now deployed 36 wave energy generators.
     
  • The Swedish company Waves4Power has been demonstrating a full scale wave power device at sea, at Runde Test site in Norway. On 2 June 2017, the device was connected to the grid and started delivering electricity. Due to damage of two of the mooring lines Waves4Power chose to tow the buoy to Fiskåholmen in late November 2017 for a detailed analysis of the mooring system.
     
  • There are a few deployments from Swedish companies planned in the near future but taking place outside Sweden: Minesto has been tested in Strangford Lough, Northern Ireland since 2011; CorPower Ocean did dry tests in Stockholm during 2017 prior to their installation at EMEC.


UNITED KINGDOM

  • Wave Energy Scotland (WES), a Scottish Government funded technology development programme, has so far awarded £24.4 million to 61 technology development projects in the areas of power take-offs (PTOs), novel devices, structural materials and manufacturing processes and control systems.
     
  • Marine Energy Wales, a Welsh Government supported initiative, granted funding to the Anglesey Tidal Demonstration Zone for the project consenting.
     
  • In 2017, the decision was made to amalgamate the Wind Power and Marine Energy Supergen hubs into a new Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) hub, as the two sectors were identified as having sufficient synergies.
     
  • The UK’s tidal stream sector made significant progress towards commercialisation in 2017, with a number of turbine deployments including two at array scale.
     
  • The MeyGen project in Scotland’s Pentland Firth operated by Atlantis Resources has completed construction of Phase 1A of the project, with four turbines and a capacity of 6 MW. In August 2017, 1,000 MWh of electricity was generated by the MeyGen array.
     
  • Nova Innovation deployed the third 100 kW turbine of the Shetland Tidal Array in early 2017 and signed a lease for a 2 MW project at Bardsey Sound in North Wales.
     
  • Scotrenewables Tidal Power commissioned their first full commercial scale machine, the SR1-2000 2 MW at EMEC. The SR1-2000 was fully grid connected over the testing period and generated over 1.3 GWh.
     
  • EMEC host six developers in 2017: UK-based ECOG, Nautricity and Scotrenewables Tidal Power, Ireland-based OpenHydro, Netherlands-based Tocardo and Finnish wave developer Wello.
     
  • The FORESEA and MaRINET2 calls in 2017 instigated a resurgence of wave and tidal developers planning test and demonstration projects at EMEC in the course of 2018.
     
  • DP Energy continue to progress through planning and consenting processes with a view to install a tidal stream array at Fairhead in Northern Ireland of 100 MW capacity.
     
  • Open Hydro have a 200 MW application submitted and being considered for a tidal development on the north side of the Pentland Firth.


THE UNITED STATES

  • The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Water Power Technologies Office has been refining their draft National Strategy for Marine and Hydrokinetics, recognising the challenges related with the development of commercial marine renewable energy technologies and proposing 4 approaches to address each of the challenges along with associated categories of activities which the DOE intends to support over time.
     
  • Federal funding has maintained an upward trend since 2013. The FY 2017 annual budget was funded from the water programme at $59 million—a 33% increase from previous year.
     
  • ABB along with partners at Texas A&M’s Advanced Electrical Machines Lab and Resolute Marine Energy developed and tested an integrated magnetic gear generator.
     
  • NREL completed deployment of two buoys with high accuracy sensors to record wave and tide movement off the coasts of Oregon and Maine.
     
  • Ocean Renewable Power Company completed full scale testing of a specialized bearing system and associated driveline components
    .
  • SNL, in conjunction with the U.S. Navy, tested advanced controls on a WEC at the Navy’s Maneuvering and Seakeeping (MASK) Basin in Bethesda, Maryland.
     
  • NNMREC conducted several laboratory experiments with cross-flow turbines and simulations of wave energy converters.
     
  • Fred Olsen, with its BOLT Lifesaver, completed a oneyear demonstration project at the Navy’s WETS in Hawaii in April 2017.
     
  • A number of other projects have plans for deployment at the Wave Energy Test Site in Hawaii: The OE Buoy is slotted for half scale device testing in the latter half of 2018; Columbia Power Technologies is planning to test a 1/3 scale system of their StingRAY wave energy converter device. Northwest Energy Innovations is currently developing a full scale Azura™ to be tested at this test site.
     
  • Verdant Power plans to test their project in the East River near New York City.
     
  • There are twelve open water test sites in USA that are operational and one under development. These sites can accommodate scaled prototypes to full scale grid connected devices.

 

INSTALLED CAPACITY

In 2017, global installed ocean energy power has approximately doubled compared with previous year.

Tidal current deployments have increased to over 17 MW in 2017. The major projects behind this development are MeyGen/Inner Sound Phase 1A in the UK, Paimpol-Bréhat in France and the LHD Tidal Current Energy Demonstration Project in China. Wave energy deployments has also doubled to 8 MW in 2017. The main drivers of this development are the Sotenäs project in Sweden and Wello’s Penguin prototype at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC). However, some of these wave and tidal current projects suffered removals and redeployments. OTEC and Salinity Gradient have a minor share of the global installed ocean energy capacity so far. These deployments have mainly occurred in Europe and in second place in Asia.

In what concerns tidal range utilisation (not represented in the pictures below), around 522 MW of operational plants exist in Europe, Asia and North America, the most recent being the Sihwa Tidal Power Plant in the Republic of Korea, with rated power of 254 MW, operational since 2011.

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Cumulated ocean energy capacity by energy source in the period 2010 – 2017 (tidal barrage not included)
Source: OES WebGis Database - Fraunhofer IEE

 

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Cumulated ocean energy capacity by location in the period 2010 – 2017 (tidal barrage not included)
Source: OES WebGis Database - Fraunhofer IEE

 


 

OPEN SEA TEST SITES
The development of open sea testing facilities encourages ocean energy development by enabling practical experience of installation, operation, maintenance and decommissioning activities for prototypes and farms, as well as on services and streamlining procedures.

 

 

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