The European tidal industry is at a critical stage. Successful demonstration of small-scale tidal arrays with lessons learnt for future large-scale projects is widely acknowledged as a key way to de-risk and kick-start the tidal energy industry. The DEMOTIDE project will design, build and operate a 4 x 1.5MW (6MW) turbine array at the MeyGen Phase 1B site, Pentland Firth, Scotland. The potential for build-out on the MeyGen site to 400 MW installed capacity, based on the available local high flow tidal resource, make this a site ripe for commercial exploitation. The DEMOTIDE consortium unites strong players with each of the required competencies to deliver this array. Leading technology supplier Marine Current Turbines (an Atlantis company) can rely on experience gained from operating its SeaGen tidal turbine system for several years. The participation of both MCT and Atlantis technology development teams is crucial to deliver robust, efficient turbines, fully specified to perform in challenging tidal site conditions. Effective installation plans are only possible through early involvement of an experienced marine contractor. DEME, comprising DEME Blue Energy and GeoSea, is a world leader in marine operations and owns a versatile fleet (jack-up platforms, DP, heavy-lift, barges, etc.) which can be applied to the tidal market. DEME subsidiary GeoSea will bring extensive offshore wind energy installation experience to the table. The combined involvement of DEME Blue Energy, Atlantis Resources, and French partner INNOSEA provides a strong route to exploitation of the results of DEMOTIDE across a portfolio of commercial tidal energy projects throughout Europe and abroad. Finally, local content and dissemination of the project results is ensured through involvement of Queen’s University Belfast and local contractors in Scotland for onshore works.

The recent experience with ocean wave energy have revealed issues with reliability of technical components, survivability, high development costs and risks, long time to market, as well as industrial scalability of proposed and tested technologies. However the potential of wave energy is vast, and also positive conclusions have been drawn, in particular that wave energy is generally technically feasible. Having substantial insight into successes and drawbacks in past developments and existing concepts, the promoters have identified ‘breakthrough features’ that address the above mentioned obstacles, i.e. components, systems and processes, as well as the respective IP. These breakthroughs are applied to two wave concepts, the OWC and the Symphony, under development by members of the consortium. The following main avenues have been identified: 1. Survivability breakthrough via device submergence under storm conditions; 2. O&M (operation and maintenance) breakthrough via continuous submergence and adaption of components and strategies; 3. PTO breakthrough via dielectric membrane alternatives to the “classical” electro-mechanical power take-off equipment; 4. Array breakthrough via sharing of mooring and electrical connections between nearby devices, as well as integral approach to device interaction and compact aggregates; WETFEET addressees Low-carbon Energies specific challenges by targeting a set of breakthroughs for wave energy technology, an infant clean energy technology with vast potential. The breakthrough features of WETFEET are developed and tested on the platform of two specific converter types (OWC and Symphony) with near-term commercial interest, and a large part of the results can make a general contribution to the sector, being implemented in other technologies.

Solar photovoltaic (PV) has become the world’s fastest-growing energy technology, with an annual global market surpassing for the first time in 2018 the 100 Gigawatt (GW) level and cumulative capacity of 583.5 GW in 2019. However, in order to produce large amounts of energy and to avoid increased energy transmission costs, solar power plants must be located close to the demand centres. Yet, it is a problem to require vast surfaces of land near densely populated areas where the power is consumed. This is specially a problem in Europe, which by far has the smallest average size of a solar PV plant in the world. Floating PV (FPV) plants have opened up new opportunities for facing these land restrictions. Nevertheless, this market is currently concentrated in reservoirs and lakes. Offshore and near-shore FPV systems are still in a nascent stage due to additional challenges faced by non-sheltered sea conditions: waves and winds are stronger, implying that mooring, anchoring and dynamic load capacity becomes even more critical due to the increased frequency of high wave- and wind-loads. The BOOST will address these challenges with a new FPV system partly inspired by the floating and mooring technology that has been used over 20 years in rough Norwegian waters by the fish farming industry, combined with a disruptive and patented floating hydro-elastic membrane (<1mm thickness). The hydro-elastic membrane is attached to an outer perimeter of buoyant tubing so that the floater is not dragged under by the mooring, even in strong currents, winds and waves, similar to the effect of oil on troubled water. The validation of this technology in non-sheltered sea waters lead consortium expects to reach an installed capacity of 1,750 MW for the 5 years (6.2% of the SAM), contributing to avoid CO2 emission of 4,120 kt (but each PV plant will last for at least 25 years, so the long-term impact is 5 times larger). It will generate to the consortium accumulated profits above €94m.

Floating offshore wind is still a nascent technology and its LCOE is substantially higher than onshore and bottom-fixed offshore wind, and thus requires to be drastically reduced. The COREWIND project aims to achieve significant cost reductions and enhance performance of floating wind technology through the research and optimization of mooring and anchoring systems and dynamic cables. These enhancements arisen within the project will be validated by means of simulations and experimental testing both in the wave basin tanks and the wind tunnel by taking as reference two concrete-based floater concepts (semi-submersible and spar) supporting large wind turbines (15 MW), installed at water depths greater than 40 m and 90 m for the semi-submersible and spar concept, respectively. Special focus is given to develop and validate innovative solutions to improve installation techniques and operation and maintenance (O&M) activities. They will prove the benefits of concrete structures to substantially reduce the LCOE by at least15% compared to the baseline case of bottom-fixed offshore wind, both in terms of CAPEX and OPEX. Additionally, the project will provide guidelines and best design practices, as well as open data models to accelerate the further development of concrete-based semi-submersible and spar FOWTs, based on findings from innovative cost-effective and reliable solutions for the aforementioned key aspects. It is aimed that the resulting recommendations will facilitate the cost-competitiveness of floating offshore wind energy, reducing risks and uncertainties and contributing to lower LCOE estimates. COREWIND aims to strength the European Leadership on wind power technology (and specially floating). To do so, the project consortium has been designed to ensure proper collaboration between all stakeholders (users, developers, suppliers, academia, etc.) which is essential to accelerate commercialization of the innovations carried out in the project.

The overall Aim of MUSICA is to accelerate the roadmap to commercialisation of its Multi-Use Platform (MUP) and Multi-use of Space (MUS) combination for the small island market, and de-risk for future operators and investors, by validation to TRL7 and providing real plans to move to mass market commercialisation. The MUSICA solution will be a decarbonising one-stop shop for small islands, including their marine initiatives (Blue Growth) and ecosystems. The overall Aim of MUSICA will be achieved by developing a replicable smart MUP. MUSICA will advance the existing FP7 funded MUP concept developed by the University of the Aegean (UoAeg) and EcoWindWater (EWW), currently at TRL5, to TRL7. The EWW MUP was successfully trialled in Heraclea in 2010 for 2 years, funded by FP7 of €2.8M. MUSICA will provide a full suite of Blue Growth solutions for small island: • Three forms of renewable energy (RE) (wind, PV and wave) (total 870kW), providing high RES penetration and competitively affordable electricity. Three forms of RE provide non-correlated supply. • Innovative energy storage systems on the MUP, provide all required storage for power on the island and platform, as well as electrical output smoothening (compressed water/air storage and batteries). • Smart energy system for the island, including: demand response, modelling and forecasting based on high flexibility services from distributed generation. • Desalinated water made by desalination unit on the MUP powered by RES providing 1000m3 fresh water for a water stressed island. • The MUP will provide “green” support services for island’s aquaculture (pilot 200 tonnes production) This project will demonstrate that the MUSICA MUP is a viable enabling infrastructure for multiple RES, desalination and BG aquaculture services for small islands, that can share the same space and work synergistically together, sharing supply chains. reducing operating and maintenance costs and solving increasing demand for space.