A team of European experts has secured the funding from the European Commission’s research and innovation programme Horizon 2020 to develop a new project whose aim is to advance the wave energy sector.
Using as a starting point the identification of the major constraints that have been delaying wave energy progress, the team will analyze technical, economic, financial, and environmental issues that need to be addressed in order to improve wave energy sector, WavEC’s press release reads.
The WETFEET project will look into development of new materials and components to be incorporated in wave energy devices.
According to WavEC, core aspects such as reliability of technical components, system survivability, high development costs and risks, long time to market, as well as industrial scalability of technologies are among the major concerns that will be targeted.
In addition to developing new materials and components, WETFEET will also consider cross-cutting aspects such as logistics and supply chain, as well as environmental issues and societal concerns.
The research will be conducted in the scope of two specific wave energy concepts, the Oscillating Water Column and the Symphony, but the resulting breakthroughs will be applicable to a significant number of wave energy concepts, WavEC’s press release reads.
WETFEET project will run between June 1, 2015 and May 31, 2018.
The three-year project comprises teams from Austria, France, Italy, Portugal, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
WavEC is a non-profit research and innovation center based in Lisbon, Portugal, specialized in wave energy and offshore wind.
Image: EMEC/Illustration