Abstract
This 2009 Annual Report reviews the progress of activities in the Implementing Agreement on Ocean Energy Systems (OES-IA) of the International Energy Agency (IEA) during the year 2009. The OES-IA operates within a framework created by the IEA.
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 programme and act as a policy advisor to countries on energy, including renewable energy. Presently the IEA has 28 member countries. The IEA provides a framework for 42 international collaborative energy research, development and demonstration projects known as Energy Technology Agreements. These Implementing Agreements have been created to encourage collaborative efforts to meet the main challenges of energy policies: ensuring energy security and addressing climate change issues in a cost-effective way.
The Ocean Energy Systems Implementing Agreement (OES-IA) is a collaborative venture among various member countries and the European Commission. As of December 2009, those members are Portugal, Denmark, United Kingdom, Japan, Ireland, the European Commission, Canada, the United States of America, Belgium, Germany, Norway, Mexico, Spain, Italy, New Zealand, Sweden and Australia, ordered by sequence of joining the Agreement.
Established in October 2001, the OES-IA is now in its second 5-year term. During 2009 the mid-point of its current term was reached and a progress report on the achievements to date and the ongoing work was delivered by the Chairman of the Executive Committee (ExCo) to the IEA’s Renewable Energy Working Party (REWP) in Paris.
This annual report presents the 2009 activities and outputs of the OES-IA ExCo, which now comprises 4 Annexes (or work programmes).
Chapter 1 describes the basic organization, membership, work programmes and financial position of the OES-IA. Chapter 2 describes the activities and accomplishments of the ExCo during 2009, whilst Chapter 3 provides reports from each of the Annexes (work programmes) that are currently active.
In Chapter 4, the ExCo has again invited industry experts to prepare articles on specific topics. In the 2008 Annual Report, six authors gave their views on the current status of ocean energy technologies. In this Annual Report, the ExCo decided to focus on a theme of key technical and non-technical challenges that ocean energy faces and actions that are and could be taken to promote and accelerate deployment of ocean energy. Again, five recognized industry experts have responded with wide-ranging papers on these themes.
The marine renewable energy roadmapping activity, being undertaken by the United Kingdom Energy Research Centre (UKERC) in the UK, has been a notable example of a focused and coherent approach to technology development in the marine sector. The first article “The Opportunity and Challenge for Ocean Energy as Part of Energy System Decarbonisation: the UK Scenario” presents a number of significant technological challenges that ocean energy faces in order to reach fully commercial status. The article describes a scenario model for the UK, highlighting the potentially important role of ocean energy technology acceleration in the UK energy system from now until 2050.
The document “Ocean Energy: Development and Evaluation Protocol” published in 2003, in Ireland, jointly by the Marine Energy Institute and the Hydraulics and Maritime Research Institute (HMRC) describes a development and evaluation protocol that has been specifically adapted for the advancement of wave energy devices, from initial concept to its final demonstration. The article “Marine Energy Device Development: A Structured Programme to Mitigate Technical & Financial Risk” presents a recommendation for a fivestage approach and decision procedure, which will reduce the financial and technical risks during the development of wave and tidal current technologies.
As ocean energy technologies develop, the nascent ocean energy industry is finding synergies and opportunities with other marine, electrical and engineering activities, such as engineering for oil or gas platforms, floating offshore wind, offshore aquaculture and others. Exploring these synergies can be a valuable contribution to accelerate the deployment of ocean energy, which is the topic of the article “Ocean Energy as Ocean Space Use – Only Conflicts or Also Synergies?”.
In addition to the technical challenges for harnessing the energy of ocean waves, a major concern of project developers are non-technical challenges or barriers not directly related to the technology. Large-scale implementation will face a considerable number of challenges, commonly summarised as “non-technical barriers”, including regulatory processes for licensing, permitting and leasing of space and resources. The article “Overview of Global Regulatory Processes for Permits, Consents and Authorization of Marine Renewables” provides an international overview of these barriers and specific solutions.
In the present stage of ocean energy development there is a need to implement standards for monitoring device performance, standard analytical techniques, presenting results and safety standards in relation to structure, personnel and electrical system. The OES-IA has already initiated some work in this area and outlined recommended practices, under the Annex II work programme. A number of organizations are now engaged in developing standards and protocols, of which the most globally significant is the work of the International Electrotechnical Commission Technical Committee 114 (IEC/TC 114). The last article on “The Standardization of Marine Renewable Energy Conversion Systems” has been written by the Chair of Technical Committee 114 (TC 114), Ms. Melanie Nadeau.
Chapter 5 presents the national activities of the OES-IA member countries and other potential member countries organised under three key topics i) ocean energy policy, ii) research and development and iii) technology demonstrations during the year. Further, based on information from delegates, a statistical information for 2009 was compiled and presented on chapter 6 covering i) Level of research & development and demonstration investment, ii) Worldwide ocean power installed capacity and iii) Electrical utilities involved in Research & Development and Demonstration.