ENCORE-2 is an Interreg 2 Seas project under the programme priority ‘Technological and social innovation’. It aims to increase delivery of innovation in the Offshore Renewable Energy sector (ORE), supported through 2 specific objectives.
ENCORE-2 (Energizing Coastal Regions with Offshore Renewable Energy) brings together 11 partners from 4 European countries to advance the offshore renewable energy sector in the 2SEAS region: MET-support (NL) as project coordinator, Dutch Marine Energy Centre (DMEC), Teamwork Technology, Oceans of Energy, Water2Energy Ltd. And Deftiq (NL), the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) and Inyanga Marine Projects (UK), Artelia, Bureau Veritas Marine & Offshore SAS and EEL Energy SAS (FR), and Ghent University (BE).
26 observer partners support the ENCORE-2 project and will carry out activities related to communication and stakeholder engagement. The ENCORE-2 project runs from 01/01/2020 until 30/06/2022.
Project description
ENCORE-2 offers advanced technical and business support services to accelerate the offshore renewable energy sector in the 2 Seas region. As part of the service portfolio, international certification schemes will be applied to reduce risks and increase investor confidence and to attract new capital to the sector. An education & training programme will be developed to train and prepare new young talent in the sector. In each country, regional impact campaigns will be set up to involve supply chain and stakeholders in the project.
Services will be delivered to next generation ORE companies, covering new technologies such as river current technology, offshore floating solar and wave energy.
Objectives
The main objective of ENCORE-2 is to increase the delivery of innovation in the offshore renewable energy sector, supported through 2 specific objectives:
Advance four ORE technologies with experts in a structured and collaborative process and tackle common challenges through taskforces, thus moving: 1. Water2Energy river current turbine from TRL 3 to 5 2. Teamwork Technology wave energy device from TRL 3 to 5 3. Oceans of Energy offshore solar plant from TRL 3 to 5 4. EEL Energy undulating water current turbine from TRL 3 to 5
Develop a Route-to-market strategy for ORE solutions to accelerate commercialization for islands, harbors, estuaries and offshore structures building on the following sub-objectives: 1. prepare SMEs for investment 2. continue to improve new international standards and certification 3. support skills development in the Blue Economy 4. involve supply chain and stakeholders
Role of Ghent University
Ghent University is represented by 2 groups in ENCORE: CERG and Power-Link.
Coastal Engineering Research Group (CERG) facilitates interdisciplinary cooperation for Blue Growth activities. It has experience in the field of offshore renewable energy and coastal and offshore engineering and performing integrated research, thereby using physical and numerical modelling and field measurement campaigns.
Power-Link is the platform within Ghent University for energy transition projects. It establishes links between industry and research, initiates and supports scientific research projects and encourages innovation and implementation of new energy technologies.
Besides the communication activities, UGent will
provide technical services to support resource assessment and loads analysis,
draft a plan/programme for scale testing according to IEC technical specifications and
make recommendations to improve technical specifications and certification schemes.
Support the organisation of a regional impact campaign in Belgium
When engaging in these activities, UGent will focus on generating knowledge and better understanding of marine renewable energy concepts for adoption in the 2 SEAS region. Furthermore, UGent also commits to broadly disseminating the research results on a non-exclusive and non-discriminatory basis.
