The European Space Agency (ESA) and Dutch Marine Energy Centre (DMEC) have joined forces to accelerate marine energy solutions. The partnership will explore the added value of space tech and data in the commercial and technical development of marine energy services and solutions.
Marine energy will play a key role in future energy systems, whilst contributing to the reduction of carbon emissions, mitigating climate change and stimulating economic growth. Space tech and data can play a key role in the acceleration of marine energy solutions and growth for the sector.
The partnership will explore the opportunities of space tech and data in the development of marine energy solutions, in the fields of logistics, operations & maintenance (O&M) activities, remote (environmental) monitoring and business case development including resource assessment, site selection and revenue forecasting.
The first step in the partnership will be ESA’s launch in September 2020 of the Marine Energy Tender for feasibility studies to assess the technical and economic viability of using space technology and data in support of marine energy. The tender will give an unprecedented opportunity for companies using space services and for marine energy developers to work together to address marine energy challenges and support technical and business innovation for the marine energy sector powered by space.
The tender will address key operational challenges across planning, logistics, efficiency and safety of operations. The studies will eventually establish a roadmap towards pilot projects that would start in 2021.
“As an accelerator for marine energy solutions, we are very pleased to partner with ESA and to give our network access to space technology and data. The Marine Energy Tender will offer marine energy developers the possibility to work on specific challenges they are facing, that can be solved with space technology.”
Benjamin Lehner, business and innovation advisor DMEC.
“We are proud of the cooperation with DMEC. Part of our work is to facilitate opportunities for industry in non-space sectors to use space to enhance their products or services in a wide range of domains such as Energy, Health, Safety, Environment, Development, Aviation and Transport. We are confident that through our cooperation with DMEC, we will be able to deliver impactful innovation into the marine energy sector leading to long-lasting socio-economic impact, and unlock cross-sectoral international cooperation opportunities.”
Davide Coppola, ESA Space Solutions.
