Press Release: Certification & finance for the marine energy sector
MET-CERTIFIED brings marine energy technology developers and investors together.
Participants of the MET-CERTIFIED Workshop at OEE 2018
The relevance of certification in accessing commercial finance for marine energy technologies was subject of a workshop organised by the MET-CERTIFIED project as part of the Ocean Energy Europe (OEE) 2018 conference, in Edinburgh on 31 October.
The goal of this workshop, led by Andrew Smith of Deja Blue Consulting, was to raise awareness about international certification as a positive tool in fundraising, and to discuss both the benefits and challenges of implementing certification during technology development within the marine energy sector.
The workshop brought together experts in standardisation, technology and project development, installation, financing and insuring of marine energy projects. Participants were challenged to formulate their own take-away messages at the end of the workshop. Participants included representatives from Green Marine, Wave Energy Scotland, Andritz, Marine Power Systems, Seabased, Qed Naval, Ghent University, Dutch Marine Energy Centre (DMEC), Deja Blue, Morlais, DNV-GL, Offshore Renewable Eneregy Catapult, Renewable Risk Advisors, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC), The Clydesdale Bank, Clyde Blowers Capital, Menter Môn, Ocean Energy Europe, and AquaNET Power
A summary of statements:
“Certification is vital to reduce risks and move down the cost curve”
(project developer)
“If you talk to the researchers, certification is a curse. If you talk to production, they will kiss you. If you talk to the engineers, it’s a mix of curse & kiss. But they can bridge the gap between research and commerce using a common language around certification.”
(wave energy developer)
“The level of certification needs to be appropriate to the maturity level of the technology”
(investor)
“As our industry matures, there is an increasing needs for a structured pathway for applying certification during the technology development”
(wave energy developer)
“Certification is about demonstrability”
(certification body)
This workshop was a unique event to bring different parties together to tackle this issue from a sectoral perspective – building on the perspective of projects and technologies.. Creating mutual awareness and understanding about the pathway towards international certification were important achievements of this workshop. MET-CERTIFIED will provide follow-up actions involving participants in which results will become publicly available in due course.
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