Abstract
The IEA Ocean Energy Systems 2007 Annual Report reviews the progress of the activities in the Implementing Agreement for Co-operation in Research and Development on Ocean Energy Systems (IEA-OES) under the auspices of the International Energy Agency (IEA), during the year 2007.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) was established as an autonomous body within the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 1974 to implement an international energy program and act as Policy Advisor to countries on energy, including renewable energy. Today the IEA has 26 member countries.
The IEA provides a framework for 42 international collaborative energy research, development and demonstration projects known as Implementing Agreements. The IEA Ocean Energy Systems Implementing Agreement (IEA-OES) is a collaborative venture among various member countries – Canada, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Portugal, United Kingdom, the USA – and the European Commission.
Chapter 1 of this report gives an overview of the IEA-OES: its membership, the Executive Committee (ExCo) meetings and actual collaborative tasks (Annexes), highlighting the major achievements in 2007. The outcomes of the three collaborative tasks of the IEA-OES: I) Collection and dissemination of information, II ) Guidelines for prototype testing and III ) Grid integration, are presented in chapter 2.
An overview of the global ocean resource and technology maturity of various ocean energy systems is presented in Chapter 3. Several tidal barrage plants, with a capacity up to 240 MW, are operating on a commercial basis worldwide, and new initiatives on this type of development are in progress in various countries. Several ocean wave technologies are expecting pre-commercial deployment in Europe. A number of demonstration projects in the range of 1 to 3 MW are awaiting deployment throughout the world, especially wave and tidal (marine) current projects. Conversion technologies for harnessing energy associated with ocean thermal gradients (OTEC) and salinity gradients are at the research and early developmental stage.
Chapter 4 gives an overview of ocean energy supporting policies based on information provided by the IEA-OES members and key representatives from other countries.
Environmental issues related with ocean energy systems started being discussed in the IEA-OES as an area where collaborative research is needed. The first expert meeting organised by the IEA-OES with relevant experts from several countries took place in November 2007 in conjunction with the 13th ExCo meeting in Messina. This topic is addressed in Chapter 5 with a view of present reality.
Chapter 6 presents a summary from each IEA-OES member country and representatives from some other countries on national programs, governmental initiatives for the promotion and development of ocean energy, relevant research activities, ocean energy projects taking place in the country, Research, Development and Demonstration (RD&D) investment and relevant national association activities during the year. Several governmental initiatives were launched in 2007 towards the development of technologies and market for ocean energy.