The European Commission has today launched a new action plan to facilitate further development of the renewable ocean energy sector in Europe.

A central element of the plan will be to establish an Ocean Energy Forum, bringing together stakeholders to build capacity and foster cooperation. The Commission believes that the exploitation of ocean energy, which covers all technologies to harvest renewable energy of seas and oceans,  would contribute to the decarbonisation of the EU's economy and provide secure and reliable renewable energy to Europe.

European Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Maria Damanaki, said:

"As our Blue Growth strategy highlights, seas and oceans have the potential to generate huge economic growth and much-needed jobs. By helping the ocean energy sector to fully develop we can fulfil this potential through innovation while also securing clean, renewable energy for Europe."

European Commissioner for Energy Günther Oettinger added that ocean energy has significant potential to enhance security of supply and that developing a wide portfolio of renewable energy sources including ocean energy would also facilitates their integration in the European energy system.

The Commission said that ocean energy resource available globally exceeds both present and projected future energy needs and could be harvested in many forms, including wave energy and tidal stream energy.

Sector faces several challenges

However, despite its undoubted potential, the Commission said the promising new sector is facing several challenges, including:

• technology costs are high and access to finance is difficult;
• there are substantial infrastructure barriers, such as grid connection issues or access to adequate port facilities and specialised vessels;
• there are administrative barriers such as complex licensing and consenting procedures, which can delay projects and raise costs;
• and there are environmental issues to be faced, including the need for more research and better information on environmental impacts.

The ocean energy action plan is intended to create a forum to bring together existing knowledge and expertise  and drive the development of this sector forward. It will also be used as a tool to help to develop a Strategic Roadmap for the ocean energy sector, which could be the basis for a European Industrial Initiative at a later stage.

The European ocean energy industry has welcomed the announcement. Sian George, CEO of Ocean Energy Europe commented:

“The prize for securing global technology leadership in ocean energy is huge, but the challenges faced by the sector are significant. The Commission clearly recognises this and has moved to help the industry bridge the gap to commercialisation.”

“The industry is extremely pleased with the creation of the Ocean Energy Forum and looks forward to working with the Commission and Member States to make sure it drives the sector forward. The initiative provides a platform for coordinating support and risk sharing which will ultimately provide practical support and get devices in the water.”

Scottish Government say full potential of EU ocean energy will only be realised with "full powers of independence"

The Scottish Government has also separately welcomed the EU initiative - Scotland has a major role to play in the European Commission’s new marine energy forum, Energy Minister Fergus Ewing said today. With 10% of Europe’s wave power potential and 25% of its tidal power Scotland is currently leading the way in the development of marine energy technologies. Mr Ewing added that Scotland has an astounding potential for renewable energy and it is “only with the full powers of independence that this potential can be fully realised.”

In the last year consents have been granted for the world’s largest wave farm – a development by Edinburgh firm Aquamarine Power – off the north-west coast of Lewis, and for the largest tidal stream energy project in Europe – MeyGen’s array project in the Pentland Firth.

Last year also saw the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney celebrate ten years of real-sea experience. There have been more grid-connected marine energy converters deployed at EMEC than at any other single site in the world and the centre remains the world’s only accredited marine energy laboratory.

The Ocean Energy Forum will comprise governments, regional directors and industry chief executives across Europe. It will coordinate the approach to dealing with the challenges facing the offshore energy sector and produce a strategy to speed up development.

The Form will be made up of ministers, regional directors and industry CEOs from across Europe. The Commission proposes to use the outputs from the Ocean Energy Forum to create a European Industrial Initiative for Ocean Energy by 2017.