Press release: Blue-GIFT opens third call to test marine renewable energy technology in real sea environments

Blue-GIFT is pleased to announce the third call for applications to test marine renewable energy (MRE) technologies at the project’s test sites. The call will open on the 9 December 2020 at 09:00 UTC and closes on the 2 April 2021 at 17:00 UTC. Applications can benefit from an early assessment if the technology is ready for deployment before end September 2021.

Funded by Interreg Atlantic Area, Blue-GIFT, aims to help technology developers test their MRE devices in four test sites in the Atlantic Area region specifically BiMEP in the Basque Country, Spain, PLOCAN in Canary Island, Spain, SEENEOH in Bordeaux, France and WavEC in Aguçadoura, Portugal.

This access will allow developers to perform low cost tests and validation of their technologies in real sea environments. The types of technologies included in this call are renewable energy sources such as floating offshore wind, wave energy and tidal energy and for the first time floating solar technology.

The results of the first (22 April to 6 September 2019) and second (20 January to 30 April 2020) calls have been very successful, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. With 14 developers awarded support, we have seen three deployments to date with more planned in coming months.

The companies that have been granted Blue-GIFT support for their technologies in the first and second call were the following:

• Design Pro Renewables

• Arrecife Energy Systems

• Laminaria
• Wello Oy
• Eolink
• SBM Offshore
• EnerOcean S.L.
• RW Power AS
• Wave Piston
• Blue Shark Power System
• CorPower Ocean
• Resolute Marine Energy
• Tension Technology International Ltd
• Exponential Renewables S.L.

EnerOcean, PLOCAN

Silvia Hildebrandt, PLOCAN said:

“Projects like Blue-GIFT are an excellent opportunity for MRE developers to successfully overcome the demonstration phase of their technologies on their way to commercialisation. At PLOCAN we are proud to be part of this initiative that boosts the blue economy and the energy transition in the Atlantic Area”.

Marlène Kiersnowski, SEENEOH said:

“The Blue-GIFT call for projects opens, for the 3rd time, the possibility to have a very privileged access to test infrastructures in real environment, as well as to key skills for the realisation of optimal test campaigns. This is an opportunity not to be missed by developers, perhaps the last one before the end of the project!”

Danielle Moodie, EMEC stated:

“Creating opportunities for more accessible and cost effective real-sea testing is critical to achieving commercialisation of marine renewable technologies and ensuring a sustainable low-carbon energy mix in the future. EMEC is delighted to be working with partners in the Atlantic Area to build on the successful approach of FORESEA and achieve more demonstration projects in the region. We would encourage any interested technology developers to apply to this call to gain subsidised access to the test sites, along with support from the project consortium.”

 Which test centres can you apply to?

A series of test site access vouchers are being offered to successful applicants to support testing of devices and subsystems at the following test centres:

• BiMEP (wave and floating wind) in the Basque Country, Spain;
• PLOCAN (wave and floating wind) in Gran Canaria, Spain;
• SEENEOH (tidal) in Bordeaux, France;
• WavEC (wave and floating wind test centre) in Aguçadoura, Portugal.

Whilst not eligible for applications within the Blue-GIFT programme, the project consortium also includes three additional ocean energy test facilities who are supporting the project with technical expertise gained from running the Interreg North-West Europe FORESEA programme:

• EMEC (wave and tidal) in Orkney, UK (Blue-GIFT lead partner);
• SmartBay Ireland (wave and floating wind) from Galway, Ireland;
• Centrale Nantes / SEM-REV (wave and floating wind) in Nantes, France.

As such, BlueGIFT also makes it possible for demonstrations to benefit from the technical expertise of the project partners about power performance assessment, environmental impact assessment, and other research topics related to testing activities.

Who can apply?

Blue-GIFT is open to any type of enterprise wishing to demonstrate ocean energy technologies being tested or validated.

How to apply?

Visit www.bluegift.eu for further information and supporting documentation, including:

• Blue-GIFT Access – 3rd Call Text
• Blue-GIFT Access – Call Rules and Conditions
• Blue-GIFT Application Form

Test Site Access Coordinator:

Mairéad Elliott, SmartBay Ireland: Mairead.elliott@smartbay.ie

Project Leader:

Danielle Moodie, European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC): danielle.moodie@emec.org.uk