On Orkney, I got a glimpse of how we can harness and store the abundant and unexploited energy from tides, currents, waves, sun, and wind. Together we are making so much progress; it’s incredibly promising to see so many innovations actually in operation.
One of the devices we saw had just been lifted out of the water: the Blue X wave energy converter built by Mocean Energy. Two massive floaters are hinged together, designed for survivability and maximum power capture. The next step is to power a subsea battery and a remote underwater vehicle.
Seeing all this gives me an incentive to continue creating collaborative projects to de-risk offshore renewable technologies and bring them to the market.
Old and new connections
As Lead Partner of the project, I brought the ENCORE-partnership for their first physical project meeting to the European Marine Energy Centre. It was really good to finally meet each other in person. The project’s aim is to ENergize Coasts with Offshore Renewable Energy. So, we worked on developing a common vision and strategy for the year ahead in the ENCORE project.
We build new connections with the industry on Orkney and identified opportunities for collaboration. We (re)connected with the EMEC staff. Their wide capabilities to perform accredited testing is instrumental in raising confidence in the technologies and attracting finance.
With so many people working in the sector and so many devices tested here, Orkney has one of the highest concentrations of marine energy expertise and experience in the world.
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