Page 54 - European Energy Innovation - Summer 2016 publication

54 Summer 2016 European Energy Innovation

OCEAN ENERGY

Is the EU willing to do what it
takes to get ocean energy over
the line?

European energy policy is in flux. The Energy Union strategy, launched last year seeks to address the
bloc’s precarious energy security situation. EC president Jean-Claude Juncker has come to power
launching an unprecedented EU-wide investment programme to unlock growth and job creation
potential, with renewables as a priority. Commitments made at COP21 imply a full decarbonisation of the
power sector. All of this will require new renewable energy technologies, such as ocean energy. But is the
Europe willing to do what it takes to get ocean energy over the line to commercialization?
By Rémi Gruet, CEO, Ocean Energy Europe

Courtesy of Atlantis Resources WHY DOES EUROPE NEED OCEAN
ENERGY?
The size of the prize for
commercialising ocean energy is huge.
In Europe alone, the ocean energy
industry plans to deploy 100GW of
production capacity by 2050, meeting
10% of electricity demand. That’s
enough to meet the daily electricity
needs of 76 million households.
Deploying 100GW of ocean energy
will also mean creating a new industrial
sector based firmly in Europe, and
400,000 skilled jobs all along the
supply chain.

Ocean energy has significant export
market potential. European companies
are the clear global leaders in ocean
energy, accounting for 66% of tidal
energy patents and 44% of wave
energy patents globally. This puts them
in prime position to capture a global
market estimated to be worth 53€bn
annually in 2050.

Both politically and economically,
Europe needs ocean energy to
reduce its overreliance on fossil fuel
imports, which cost over €1bn per
day. Indigenous sources such as
renewables represent a ‘no-regrets’
option in this regard. Furthermore,
ocean energy stabilises the electricity
grid. In the coming years ocean energy
will complement the use of other
renewables like wind and solar because

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