Alongside six other territories, Brittany and Pays de la Loire are launching a new European system, Ocean Energy ERA NET Cofund. Co-financed by the European Union, this € 18 million fund is to support ocean energy demonstration projects.
“Ocean Energy ERA NET Cofund is a veritable catalyst aiming to promote collective intelligence in Europe,” says Bruno Retailleau enthusiastically as President of the Regional Council of Pays de la Loire and President of the Atlantic Arc Commission of the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions. “I now trust the researchers and industry of our regions to seize this opportunity which will help to make Europe the world champion of marine energy.“
Particularly involved in the development of the industry and already associates with the FWP Atlantic Forum organisation, Brittany and Pays de la Loire are the leaders of this new European program calling for MRE projects along with six other territories of Scotland, Spain, the Basque Country, Ireland and Sweden.
€ 18 million for demonstration projects
March 20, 2017, the eight partners will launch a call for transnational projects intended for academic and industrial players in their own regions. They will draw on an € 18 million fund of which one third is funded by the European Union under the Horizon 2020 research framework program and to which the Pays de la Loire has contributed € 1 million.
R&D projects supported must be collaborative and aim to test and validate MRE technologies (wave power, tidal power, ocean thermal energy and osmotic energy). They should focus on the following research areas: complete systems, components and subsystems, foundations, anchoring, electrical systems, installation, operations and marine maintenance. The candidate consortia must include at least one industrial participant and two participants from two different partner countries.
Long-term alliance
It is worth highlighting that the partnership between the eight regions and countries associated by the Ocean Energy ERA NET Cofund is not limited to financing projects: partners are also committed to “implementing activities to facilitate the organisation of joint R & D funding, knowledge transfer and exploitation of results of projects financed.“
Further information:
Charlotte Sugliani, Agence régionale, c.sugliani@agence-paysdelaloire.fr.
