Ocean Energy Systems (OES) started to prepare an International Ocean Energy Technology Roadmap.
The overall object of the ocean energy technology roadmap, initiated in April 2015, is to achieve Levelised Cost Of Energy (LCOE) targets within the ocean energy sector. This requires principal focus on two key areas: Reliability improvement and Performance Improvement.
Ocean energy technologies undergoing testing and development require significant cost reduction, performance and reliability improvement in order to reach cost competitiveness with existing supply technologies. Initial estimates of the LCOE from ocean energy technologies are high in comparison to other renewable energy alternatives.
Identification and prioritisation of the pathways to ocean energy cost reduction form an essential and necessary step to achieve fully commercial wave, tidal stream and OTEC technologies with competitive LCOE, OES said.
Roadmaps are an effective tool to underpin the identification of priority focus areas and investments to accelerate ocean energy technology development, allowing LCOE reductions to be realised.
Additionally, roadmaps can facilitate the creation of international frameworks to accelerate the development and adoption of low carbon technologies. Unified international policies are a key step towards a successful marine energy industry and then the creation of an international roadmap is very important to achieve that goal.
There is an opportunity for OES in collaboration with its members to engage with and support the construction and development of an International Ocean Energy technology roadmap, engaging with ongoing work in international assessments of LCOE.
This is a 1-year project led by the University of Edinburgh involving experts from USA and Singapore and with stakeholders engagement.