34th EXCO MEETING, 14 and 15 JUNE 2018

Brief review of the 34th Executive Committee Meeting held in Cherbourg, France, on 14 ? 15 June 2018.

The Executive Committee (ExCo) of the Technology Collaboration Programme on Ocean Energy Systems (OES), within the International Energy Agency (IEA), announces the outcomes of its 34th meeting, held in Cherbourg, France, on 14 – 15 June 2018.

Two workshops were co-organized by the OES during that week:

Ocean Energy in Insular Conditions, Monday 11th June (14h – 18h)

Stage Gate Metrics for Ocean Energy, Thursday 14th June (16h -18h)

A new study on the Cost of Energy for Ocean Energy was initiated by the OES, led by Spain/TECNALIA.

Comprehensive overviews of international activities and achievements on ocean energy were shared during the ExCo meeting and are presented below.
 

Australia Observer - The Australian Government nominated CSIRO (The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation), an independent federal Government funded agency responsible for scientific and industrial research, to join OES on their behalf, and this membership process is expected to be very soon completed.

Last year, CSIRO published the Australian Wave Energy Atlas with the support of ARENA, providing openly accessible, independent resource characterization, via the Australian Renewable Energy Mapping Infrastructure (AREMI): http://www.nationalmap.gov.au/renewables).

Research activities on ocean energy have been conducted by several Australian Universities:
• Swinburne University completed a four-year ARENA Measure on the interactions of Wave-Energy Converters (WECs) in arrays, with industry partners;
• University of Tasmania, Australian Maritime College (AMC) is implementing a comprehensive 3-year tidal energy research project funded by ARENA with several partners from academia and industry;
• University of Western Australia (UWA) led the formation of the Wave Energy Research Centre (WERC) at the same time as the Albany Wave Energy Research Centre with its intended mission to become a hub for marine energy research and innovation;
• University of Adelaide is working with Carnegie on multimodal point absorbers control systems;
• University of New South Wales, Water Research Laboratory is actively involved in research on coastal protection benefits of ORE but also their impact on beach recovery post-storm.

A few Australian companies are also making good progress:
• Bombora relocated from Australia to Wales to manufacture and commercially develop their mWaveTM technology;
• Carnegie is in the design phase for their CETO 6, 1.5MW wave energy device, with deployment anticipated for the summer of 2019/2020;
• MAKO Tidal Turbines (MTT) is commercialising its shallow water, low flow tidal turbine;
• Spiral Energy is currently seeking funding to optimize its 1:12 scale tidal energy prototype that has been tested by the Australian Maritime College;
• Wave Swell Energy is finalising their funding for a 200kW wave energy project on the east coast of King Island, located in the Bass Strait between the Australian mainland and Tasmania. The detailed design of the UniWave200 unit has already been performed. It will be installed in approximately 6 metres of water depth at a distance of 100 metres from shore, adjacent to the island’s main commercial harbour at the town of Grassy.

The Australian Marine Energy Taskforce (AMET), formed 2 years ago to speak with a unified voice, has recently secured funding from the National Energy Resources Australia (NERA) to create a virtual marine energy cluster.
 

Chile Observer - Chile published its Energy Roadmap (2018 – 2022) which has sought to define path and priorities in energy matters for that period. Its elaboration was carried out with a dialogue throughout the whole country with all stakeholders. It will be a tool for monitoring actions and goals that will mark the path of Chile in the energy sector the coming years. In this strategy there are some opportunities for marine energies.

MERIC, Chile’s Marine Energy Research and Innovation Centre is playing a key role on the promotion of marine energies in the country, working with Chilean universities and companies to carry out R&D projects and studies, consolidating experience to provide services to local and international industry interested in testing marine energy technologies in the Chilean environment.