UK joint effort to advance wave and tidal industry

The Crown Estate, Marine Scotland and Welsh Government will jointly fund the running of the secretariat function for the new Offshore Renewables Joint Industry Programme (ORJIP) for Ocean Energy.

Aquatera, Marine Space and the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) will receive the funding to run the secretariat function of the new programme that is expected to bring industry, regulators, funders and researchers together.

The programme aims to ensure that the tidal and wave consenting risks are addressed in a strategic and co-ordinated manner, avoiding duplication of efforts which will consequently lead to a delay reduction in the projects, Crown Estate’s press release reads.

ORJIP Ocean Energy goals are:

• to help organisations whose role it is to fund and manage research to do so efficiently and effectively by bringing together knowledge and expertise on needs and practicalities from industry, regulators and the wider sector,
• to make the knowledge available in a way that can be readily understood and acted upon,
• to provide a funded Secretariat to co-ordinate creating and sharing the information and encourage action,
• to support project developers by co-ordinating research and monitoring to ultimately assist with commercialisation.

ORJIP Ocean Energy will have two workstreams within it to cover wave and tidal separately, ensuring that different issues and approaches to the industries are dealt accordingly while at the same time realizing the similarities and opportunities for joint work.

Carl Sargeant, Welsh Government Minister for Natural Resources said: “By working together, this partnership can address many of the environmental issues faced by developers and regulators across the UK. This will result in a fairer, safer and more effective system for all and will speed up the consent process for marine renewable projects.”

Ronnie Quinn, Head of Ocean Energy at The Crown Estate, commented: “By taking a more strategic approach through the ORJIP for Ocean Energy to de-risking the consent process and sharing learning across industry, we can help support progress towards commercial-scale projects.”

Image: EMEC/Illustration