International agencies release joint paper on ocean energy best practices

Outlook & Strategy

October 13, 2022, by Amir Garanovic

International Energy Agency’s Ocean Energy Systems (IEA-OES) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) have issued a joint publication on best practices for supporting ocean energy technology development and commercialization.

Illustration/Mocean Energy’s Blue X wave energy device at EMEC (Photo by Colin Keldie)

The paper discusses four sources of guidance for ocean energy sector and is written by the providers who are collaborating to ensure they deliver a complementary and coherent set of recommendations.

Like more mature sectors, the ocean energy sector has a growing body of a guidance and support provision, designed to promote and accelerate commercial exploitation of prospective technologies.

As the interests and objectives of stakeholders evolve along the development pathway, so does the guidance required to support the sector’s passage – from early-stage conceptualization to commercial readiness.

By sharing this collaboration, IEA-OES, IEC TC 114 and IECRE intend to promote the value of each source of guidance and to illustrate how they complement each another.

The pathway from early-stage technology to commercial exploitation requires a varying mix of support and guidance, from public sector funding through various types of private investment, the agencies said.

The goals of these supporters are wide ranging, from socio-economic growth and domestic infrastructure requirements, through to pure financial gain. Despite the differing objectives of these parties, consensus on the development path and the fundamental characteristics of an attractive technology enable the support provision to operate more efficiently and with a higher likelihood of success.

“The consensus presented in the IEA-OES Evaluation and Guidance Framework, particularly between public funders and technology developers, brings clarity of expectation, helps funded projects to align with agreed R&D priorities and builds a promising cohort of technologies which, when guided through technical activities by IEC standards and certification, have improved chances of commercial success,” it is stated in the paper.