FORESEA seeks industry input to boost ocean energy test sites

The FORESEA consortium has opened an industry consultation to align its investment pathway with the needs of ocean energy technology developers.

Ecole Centrale de Nantes (ECN) has commissioned Cruz Atcheson Consulting Engineers to conduct a benchmarking study of offshore test sites within the framework of the FORESEA project, short for Funding Ocean Renewable Energy through Strategic European Action.

The aim is to help FORESEA test sites meet the industry’s requirements, both in terms of infrastructures and services.

“Your feedback will directly inform the development paths that will be considered when building the open ocean test sites investment plans, ensuring that your requirements in terms of infrastructures and service offerings are met. Information about your current and future needs will facilitate long-term open ocean testing to support de-risking of your technology and ultimately your progression towards commercialization,” FORESEA said in a statement.

The consultation process will run from October 18 until November 15, 2017.

FORESEA is an €11 million EU initiative, funded under ERDF’s Interreg North-West Europe (NWE) program, whose goal is to enable ocean energy developers access to Europe’s leading testing centers by providing financial support.

The testing centers participating in the project are EMEC (Orkney Islands, UK); SmartBay (Galway, Ireland); SEM-REV (Nantes, France); and Tidal Testing Centre (Den Oever, Netherlands).

To remind, FORESEA launched its fourth call for proposals last week meant to help developers of offshore technologies transition into the renewable energy space by developing new applications for their products.