The ocean energy sector continued to make progress towards commercialisation in 2024, according to the latest statistics released by Ocean Energy Europe (OEE).
According to the organisation’s latest report, the pipeline of pre-commercial tidal farms kept growing, while several full-scale wave devices were deployed. Meanwhile, 165 MW across 15 publicly supported farms is planned for deployment in the next five years, building momentum and increasing private investors’ confidence in the sector.
In addition to European and national grant funding, the pipeline of tidal projects is carried by revenue support schemes in the UK and France. As expected, this long-term commitment by national governments created market visibility and attracted private investments. A continuous and coordinated interplay of revenue support and grant funding is needed to grow the pipeline even further and accelerate the industrialisation of ocean energy.
Valentin Dupont, senior policy officer at OEE, said: “The UK and France demonstrated with tidal that when national revenue support is in place, farm projects thrive, and private investment quickly follows. It makes projects bankable by offering predictable returns to investors. We need to do the same for wave – especially in Portugal, Spain, the UK, and Ireland.”
Wave energy reached key technological and financial milestones, with new full-scale deployments hitting the waters, and several technologies now ready for farm-scale deployment. European grant funding helped build those technologies and enabled the first wave farm projects, scheduled for deployment in the coming years. However, national revenue support schemes will be critical to make those projects bankable, grow the pipeline, and meet national deployment targets.
The interest in ocean energy is also growing abroad, namely in the US and China, which are investing heavily to scale up ocean energy and catch up with Europe. Financial and political support from all levels of government is needed to unlock the full potential of ocean energy for Europeans, and ensure that Europe maintains its global leadership. Europe must press on to industrialise ocean energy and transform years of innovation support into commercial success.
Dupont added: “EU funding will remain essential to drive new deployments and scale up the industry. The EIB must also step in now with debt funding and guarantees to support the first pre-commercial farms. This will lower the cost of capital, attract further private investment, and boost the industrialisation on the continent.
“Ocean energy is an opportunity to deliver now on the EU’s competitiveness and decarbonisation agenda. The size of the prize is a new industry made in Europe – with 400.000 new jobs, 100 GW of predictable, home-grown renewable power, and export opportunities all over the globe.”
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