OPIN
The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) is leading a pan-European project looking to accelerate and develop the ocean energy sector. The Ocean Power Innovation Network (OPIN) has a 3 year budget of €2.6-million and sees a partnership between the SEAI and similar organisations in Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK.
The project is a collaboration that brings together knowledge, expertise, and products from across various sectors and channels them into the ocean energy sector. The collaboration aims at reducing costs and speeding up the development of technology.
OPIN will set up a forum for companies across the partner region to collaborate and exchange technology, as well as allowing firms with expertise in ocean energy to interact with world leaders in other fields such as wind energy, oil and gas, ICT, and aerospace. OPIN also seeks to address the innovation and economic disparities across North West Europe and is inviting small businesses with relevant expertise to join the project.
"We are stepping up our ambition on renewables as part of the all of government Climate Plan, and will be targeting 70% for renewable electricity by 2030. Decarbonising our electricity supply is a crucial part of reducing our overall emissions and harnessing Ireland’s ocean energy resources will be key to achieving this for 2030 and beyond. Projects like OPIN that enable European collaboration are critical to us unlocking opportunities to advance the development of our ocean energy sector," said Richard Bruton, Ireland's Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment.
"The basic premise of OPIN is to encourage cross-sectoral and cross-regional collaboration for offshore renewable energy SMEs. This will bring proven expertise, capabilities and products into the ocean energy sector. As we work to remove barriers to offshore renewable energy development, OPIN will help to reduce costs and accelerate both technology and market development,” added Jim Gannon, CEO, SEAI.
The latter part of 2019 will see a series of events across the various partner countries starting in September with a symposium in Dublin. Any and all business who have joined OPIN will be able to attend the events.
OPIN will also provide a space for the assessment of technologies and ideas presented by members to gauge the potential success as well as looking at grants and possible collaborations.
OPIN project partners include Scottish Enterprise (UK), Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult (UK), Sirris, the collective centre of the technological industry (Belgium), West Atlantic Marine Energy Community, École Centrale de Nantes (France), Dutch Marine Energy Centre (Netherlands), Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e.V. (Germany).
In additions to the annual symposium in Dublin on 30 September, future OPIN events include the Energy Policy and Offshore Renewables State of the Nation in October in Blyth, UK, the Advanced materials and manufacturing (Composites) meeting in November held in Nantes, France, and Finance and Innovation Models in December in Glasgow, UK.
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