Centre for Marine and Renewable Energy (MaREI) - Reports
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Item KETmaritime: Setting course to energise maritime uptake of Key Enabling Technologies(University College Cork, 2020) Scarrott, Rory; O’ Mahony, Cathal; Sweeney , Michael; Williams, Jonathon; Gault, Jeremy; Sullivan, Timothy; Vila, Ana; European Commission; InterregKey Enabled Technologies(KETs) have the potential to impact on many aspects of society, whilst transforming European industrial competitiveness at the local, national, and global scales. Studies funded by the European Commission have shown that European advances in six technology areas would not only enhance the leadership and competitiveness of European business, but also drive advances across Europe’s business sectors and society. Despite their applicability across sectors, KETs represent a change, and a new manner of moving forward. Business and society view change both positively, welcoming advances in technology and new tools and products to make life somewhat easier for citizens, and negatively, recognising that with change comes risk and a reticence to change. Like society, different industrial sectors will view innovation and new technology differently. As such, each sector requires a slightly different approach to energise KET uptake into their daily operations and lives. Recognition of this reality underpinned the development of this roadmap. Stakeholders have been engaged across the Atlantic Area, through the use of online surveying, face-to-face workshops, and one-to-one interviews conducted virtually. This has enabled the authors to develop an awareness of the maritime scene and community which offers such opportunities and potential for KETs. It also provided insights into the reality of energising this uptake when framed in the context of social, financial and governance realities. Over the course of the project, the team conducted an analysis of the maritime sector, to identify and map out any KET applications that were in development. In parallel, a diverse pool of academic and commercial stakeholders identified the opportunities they could see for KET applications in the maritime sector. They also identified factors which restrict uptake, and restrain viable trans- disciplinary innovations from effectively making it to market. Stakeholder perspectives were combined with the investigative findings to develop a vision for a KET-maritime innovation ecosystem. The barriers and challenges shaped a range of proposed actions, which target different facets of the innovation ecosystem to ease growth and shape development. These actors were iteratively reviewed by stakeholders, and amended accordingly. These actions form the basis of this roadmap, a proposed path towards realising a vibrant growing KET-maritime innovation ecosystem. It contains a suite of 60 inter-linked, systemic actions, framed within 35 action areas to achieve 9 core goals, spread across 5 thematic agendas (policy, funding, building a sustainable innovation ecosystem, capacity building, and awareness raising). This envisioned KET-maritime innovation ecosystem fosters application-led innovation, and advances societal and market benefits for all. Each of the 5 thematic agendas are summarised as a policy brief, provided in the Appendices. The actions applicable to each policy brief are detailed in this report, alongside a proposed timeframe for implementation. Each action is codified, and can be traced through the iterative review process using the provenance table supplied. The potential for KET applications across the Blue Economy is extensive, and all sectors offer at least some opportunities for KETs. Within this landscape, the following sectors are identified as having strong growth potential where KET’s can help to drive that growth: Fisheries and aquaculture; Blue biotechnology; Maritime surveillance; Marine renewable energy; Ship and boat building. Within these sectors, four specific KET-maritime applications research priorities are highlighted: Advanced materials application in marine renewable energy; Photonics application in maritime surveillance; Micro- and nano-electronics in maritime surveillance; Advanced manufacturing techniques in ship and boat building. Finally, the project team would like to take this opportunity to thank all stakeholders who participated in the workshops, interviews, and review activities which culminated in this roadmap.Item Ireland's Climate Change Assessment Volume 4: Realising the benefits of transition and transformation(Environmental Protection Agency, 2023-12) Moriarty, Róisín; O’Mahony , Tadhg; Stefaniec, Agnieszka; Boucher, Jean L.; Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland; Science Foundation Ireland; Department of Transport; Department of the Environment, Climate and CommunicationsThis is the first Ireland’s Climate Change Assessment (ICCA) and is a major contribution to the national dialogue and engagement on climate change. It tells us what is known about climate change and Ireland. It also provides key insights on gaps in our knowledge. The development of ICCA was modelled on the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the Sixth Assessment Cycle, completed in 2023, with the use of and localisation of its information for Ireland. ICCA will support the national response to climate change, ensuring that it is informed by the best available science. It also points to how and where that science can be improved through further investments in innovation, in research and in systematic observations. These collectively form the essential backbone of the science and data required to understand how Ireland is being impacted by and responding to the climate change challenge. The full Assessment has been developed through a co-creation process between leading academics in Ireland and officials from across state agencies and government departments. Funding was provided by the Environmental Protection Agency, Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, Science Foundation Ireland and Department of Transport. The process was collaborative, involving mutual development and agreement of the scope, preparation and review of drafts, wider stakeholder consultation through a series of workshops and meetings, and a detailed sign-off process. We see the publication of ICCA as a real innovation for Ireland and as a resource for understanding climate change in an Irish context across the underlying science, mitigation and adaptation measures, and opportunities. It is a starting point for further dialogue on the findings and their utility for policymakers, practitioners, researchers, research funders and people. This engagement phase should continue far beyond the publication of this Assessment and support climate action in Ireland.Item Ireland's Climate Change Assessment Volume 4: Realising the benefits of transition and transformation. Summary for policymakers(Environmental Protection Agency, 2023-12) Moriarty, Róisín; O’Mahony , Tadhg; Stefaniec, Agnieszka; Boucher, Jean L.; Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland; Science Foundation Ireland; Department of Transport; Department of the Environment, Climate and CommunicationsIreland’s Climate Change Assessment (ICCA) delivers a comprehensive, Ireland-focused, state of scientific knowledge report on our understanding of climate change, its impacts on Ireland, the options to respond to the challenges it poses, and the opportunities from transitions and transformations to a climate-neutral, climate-resilient and sustainable economy and society. This serves to complement and localise the global assessments undertaken by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports (see www.ipcc.ch). The findings presented build upon these global assessments and add important national and local context.Item Ocean energy technology guidance report(MaRINET2, 2021-12-21) Judge, Frances M.; Elliot, Mairéad; O’Boyle, Louise; Long, Caitlin; Candido, José; Noble, Donal; Davey, Thomas; Salcedo, Fernando; Lopez-Mendia, Joseba; O’Shea, Michael; Horizon 2020The journey of an offshore renewable energy (ORE) device from an idea on paper to a commercial deployment is long, expensive and usually beset by numerous difficulties and dead ends. Physical testing is expensive and suitable test facilities are not available in every country. Furthermore, the guidance available for conducting physical testing is limited, and standardised processes for each stage of development have not yet been fully developed. It is not always clear what technological advancement should be prioritised at each stage of development and where money is best spent. Many developers, despite having a device that performs well, have difficulties securing the finance necessary to progress to the next stage of development. Developers of wave energy converters (WECs) are particularly susceptible to the pitfalls outlined above due to the sector in general being at an earlier stage of development compared with the tidal and floating wind sectors. Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) are the globally accepted index for benchmarking and tracking a technology’s development from conceptualisation to full system demonstration. ORE developers must ensure their technology meets certain performance criteria to progress through the TRLs. However, achieving these performance metrics, while crucial, will not necessarily result in success. Other factors such as cost and a good business plan are also essential to ensure progression. This deliverable aims to assist ORE developers in their journey to commercial deployment by providing an overview of the different frameworks as well as individual metrics that can be used to assess offshore renewable energy devices through all stages of development. The metrics range from those that measure performance, and technical and economic feasibility, to metrics that can be used to determine how ready a developer is to progress their business commercially. Freely available resources that can help ORE developers progress through the TRLs are presented. Many of these resources are the results of other collaborative projets funded by the EU.Item Test recommendations and gap analysis report(MaRINET2, 2018-05-18) Noble, Donal; Draycott, S.; Ordonez Sanchez, S.; Porter, K.; Johnstone, C.; Finch, S.; Judge, Frances M.; Desmond, C.; Santos Varela, B.; Lopez Mendia, Joseba; Darbinyan, D.; Khalid, Faryal; Johanning, Lars; Le Boulluec, Marc; Schaap, A.; Horizon 2020This report is a review of published standards and guidelines for testing of marine renewable energy devices. Recommendations are given on which documents address particular aspects of testing. Additionally, a gap analysis has been undertaken to identify areas not well covered by existing documents. This is based on the review of published documents, from responses to a questionnaire sent out to each test facility involved in the MaRINET2 programme, and the experience of project partners contributing to this report. Marine renewable energy is a very diverse topic, with a wide range of technology types and configurations, including wave energy converters (WECs), tidal energy converters (TECs), and floating offshore wind turbines (FOWTs). These devices also span the full range of technology development, from early concept to commercial deployment. The commonality between these is that all are designed to extract renewable energy from the marine environment, and are therefore subject to the harsh conditions this entails. One of the challenges in producing guidance for marine renewable energy testing is the shear diversity of device concepts. A three level device classification template was developed for wave and tidal energy converters as part of the EquiMar protocols [1]. This categorises devices based on the general form, the power take-off subsystem, plus the reaction and control subsystems. For each level, there are a number of standardised descriptors, giving many thousands of possible device concept permutations. Technology reviews, such as [2], [3], identify more than 100 wave and tidal energy concepts in various stages of development. Marine renewable energy is still an emerging technology. As such, there is still a lack of mature standards and guidance for the development and testing of these devices. This report aims to summarise relevant published guidance and standards, and highlight any gaps or areas for further development.