EUROPEAN STRATEGY
The European Commission presented the European Green Deal[1] in 2019. It will be the most ambitious package of measures that should enable European citizens and businesses to benefit from sustainable green transition. In follow up of this package the Commission presented in 2020 an EU strategy on energy system integration, an Industrial Strategy for a green and digital Europe, and the offshore renewable energy strategy. The Offshore Renewable Energy Strategy is the key policy initiative released in 2020 to support the development of ocean energy in the EU. The strategy was released in the context of the European Green Deal and its ambition to drive the EU towards climate neutrality by 2050. The strategy recognises the role of ocean energy to contribute to the decarbonisation goal. The expectation is that by 2030 ocean technologies could make a significant contribution to Europe’s energy system and industry, particularly supporting grid stability and playing a crucial role in decarbonising islands in the EU. The Offshore Renewable Energy Strategy places significantly emphasis on the need to continue the cost-reduction of ocean energy technologies to enable for the uptake of wave and tidal energy technologies in the EU energy system. As foreseen by the strategy a crucial but feasible step to reach commercial size by 2030 would be implementing the existing pipeline of 100 MW pilot-farms projects by 2025.
It is expected that EU Islands can play a key role in the development of ocean energy technologies in the EU. EU Islands in fact provide attractive testing and demonstration grounds for innovative offshore electricity generation technologies. The Clean Energy for EU Islands Initiative provides a long-term cooperation framework to promote replicable and scalable projects with funding from private sector investors, relevant EU support instruments, and technical assistance, in order to accelerate clean energy transition on all EU islands.
The offshore renewable energy strategy places a strong emphasis on the importance of integrating ocean energy technologies safely in the environment. As such, to facilitate dialogue on the environmental, economic and social sustainability of offshore renewable energy, the Commission is ready to facilitate and promote a ‘community of practice’ where all stakeholders, industry, social partners, NGOs and scientists can exchange views, share experience and work on joint projects.
To meet the EU’s energy and climate targets for 2030, EU Member States need to establish a 10-year integrated national energy and climate plan (NECP) for the period from 2021 to 2030 (See annual report 2020). The national plans outline how the EU Member States intend to address energy efficiency, renewables, emissions reductions, interconnections, and research and innovation and have been submitted in 2020.
The European Commission evaluated its Blue Energy Communication in 2020-2021. The main conclusions from this evaluation are the following: The EU successfully implemented the actions included under Phase 1 of the Communication, by setting up the Ocean Energy Forum and supporting the adoption of the Ocean Energy Strategic Roadmap. For what concerns the actions under Phase 2, some progress has been made in the development of sector-specific guidelines for the implementation of relevant legislation, in relations to the EU Nature legislation and to the MSP Directive, but no European Industrial Initiative was set up by 2020. The Ocean SET-Plan adopted in 2018, however addresses, at least partially, the needs identified in the impact assessment. In addition, while outside of the scope of this evaluation, it must be noted that the Clean Energy Industrial Forum announced for 2021 in the EU offshore renewable energy strategy will also cover the ocean energy sector and therefore partially addresses the need for a European Industrial Initiative.
The European Commission has also included an analysis of the role of Ocean Energy in the first report on the progress of clean energy competitiveness, with recommendations on exploring specific business cases for ocean energy such as it value in the grid (beyond the LCOE) and its potential for decarbonising small communities and EU islands.
[1] https://ec.europa.eu/info/publications/communication-european-green-deal_en
