A £10 million EU fund which aims to help small- and medium-sized firms to commercialise new marine energy technologies and products is seeking to select new projects to support.
The FORESEA programme (Funding Ocean Renewable Energy through Strategic European Action) provides successful applicants with giving free access to a network of European test sites – including EMEC on Orkney.
Nicolas Wallet, EMEC Programme Manager, explained: “Testing ocean energy technologies at sea is challenging: Capital costs are high, and technologies are not yet de-risked enough for private investors to step in.
“The FORESEA project makes a strong contribution towards overcoming this industry-wide challenge by reducing the up-front cost of testing.
“As well as continuing to support marine energy convertor technologies, the FORESEA call will reach out to developers of products, services and key components that will enable the development of the ocean energy sector. We encourage the value chain to get involved, using their expertise to provide solutions that help de-risk the sector.”
The call is open to companies ready to deploy and complete testing before 2019. Applications must be made before 29 Sept 2017.
One previous such beneficiary is Scotrenewables Tidal Power, which tested its SR2000 2MW generator in Orkney (pictured above).
Pixie Energy is an incubator and a facilitator of strategic research and project work, focusing on energy regulation, policy and markets at the local and national level. Find out more about Pixie Energy