About
Ocean energy is abundant, geographically diverse and renewable. Under favourable regulatory and economic conditions, ocean energy could meet 10% of the EU’s current power demand by 2050. Europe’s seas and oceans could therefore play an important role in addressing one of the EU’s biggest current challenges – an energy transition from a system based on imported fossil fuels to a flexible and interconnected system based on clean, renewable and infinite domestic resources.
European Policy has successfully taken the first generation of renewable energy technologies, such as solar and wind, to commercially competitive levels. The EU will, however, need other technologies to further diversify its low-carbon generation capacity if it is to meet its objective of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 80–95% below 1990 levels by 2050. By 2050 power generated by the ocean energy sector could avoid the equivalent of 276m tonnes of CO2 emissions annually.
In light of this, the SET Plan Implementation Working Group (IWG) on ocean energy was established in 2017. The first Implementation Plan of the Implementation Working Group for Ocean Energy (OE-IWG) was published in 2018, followed by the most recent Implementation Plan (IP) in 2021. It lays out its objective to develop research and roadmaps that set out the goals and actions for the wave and tidal sector.
The OceanSET project, serves the Secretariat to the IWG and helps implement the working group’s IP. It also promotes knowledge sharing among EU countries, regions and other stakeholders in the ocean energy sector.
Additionally, ETIP Ocean helps to define research and innovation (R&I) priorities for the ocean energy sector.
Targets and objectives
Objectives outlined in the IP are to:
- bring ocean energy to commercial deployment
- drive down the levelised cost of energy (LCOE)
- maintain and grow Europe’s leading position in ocean energy
- strengthen the European industrial technology base, thereby creating economic growth and jobs in Europe and allowing Europe to compete on a global stage.
The revised plan introduces new targets closely aligned with the EU offshore renewable energy strategy. The working group has identified targets and actions, both cross-cutting (i.e. related to all ocean energy technology) and technology-specific (i.e. related to either wave or tidal), to be carried out at both national and EU level.
Composition
The working group is composed of representatives from the EU countries, regions and other stakeholders. It is chaired by Italy and the United Kingdom and includes 12 other European countries.
Participating SET Plan countries (in alphabetical order):
- Belgium
- Cyprus
- Denmark
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Ireland
- Italy (Co-chair)
- Netherlands
- Norway (Associated Country)
- Portugal
- Spain
- Sweden
- United Kingdom (Co-chair)
Key members
To get in contact, please use the contact form: OceanSET (Secretariat of OE-IWG)
- IWG Chair: Gianmaria Sannino Head of the Climate Modelling Laboratory and Impacts of ENEA, has been appointed Chair of the Ocean energy
- IWG Co-chair: Tim Hurst, Wave Energy Scotland