Led by market leader Siemens Gamesa, drawing on best-in-class partners covering the full value chain of offshore wind energy, i4Offshore will demonstrate the break-down of cost-barriers of large-scale offshore developments. At a commercial, challenging, farshore, deepwater Vattenfall site, a highly innovative offshore system solution featuring a Siemens Gamesa next-generation direct drive wind turbine, a hybrid-material gravity jacket foundation that is optimised for low cost manufacturing, and new very-low-cost array cable-in-pipe solution will be installed and operated as a full size demonstrator during the project. The project is much more than a technology demonstration. i4Offshore combines the technological advances with deep but targeted study of holistic concepts for leaner manufacturing, onshore and offshore transport of components for full scale operation, innovative strategies for operation and maintenance as well as for offshore logistics and installation. The mitigation of bottlenecks in the value chain will be given special attention. Reduction of cost is the paramount concern across all stages of the offshore wind manufacturing, construction, installation, operation, maintenance and decommissioning process, whilst safeguarding the highest standards of health, safety and ennvironment. Enabled by the innovative concepts for manufacturing, logistics, installation, and O&M, validated data from the installed and operated wind turbine system will validate the commercial viability of implementing GW-sized offfshore wind farm consisting of the i4Offshore field-proven solution. The new offshore solution will consist of new, modularized components which allow leaner, faster, more reliable and much more cost-efficient logistics in the transportation, handling, installation and O&M phases of future commercial project development. i4Offshore will deliver innovative, reliable and robust solutions to reducing LCoE to 80€/MWh at highly challenging sites before 2025.

The IMAGINE “Innovative Method for Affordable Generation IN ocean Energy” project aims at developing the Electro-Mechanical Generator (EMG), an innovative Power-Take Off (PTO) concept for wave energy applications able to convert slow speed, reciprocating linear motion into electricity. The EMG is based on the integration of a recirculating ballscrew and a permanent magnet generator, an architecture that dramatically improves average efficiency (70-85% also when working outside design conditions), reliability (20 years MTBF) and affordability (CAPEX reduction by over 50%) compared to state-of-the-art PTOs. During the IMAGINE project, the EMG technology will be demonstrated through the fabrication of a 250 kW prototype and its testing on a HardWare-In-the-Loop (HWIL) bench. This will allow progressing its TRL from 3 to 5. A range of Wave Energy Converters (WECs) will be emulated on the HWIL bench and the performance of the EMG, under the action of a robust control system, will be measured and extensively assessed. Furthermore, a FMECA analysis and a subsequent accelerated life test will prove the reliability of the system. HWIL tests will allow reducing technological risk in power rating increase, providing an intermediate step between tank tests and sea trials that represents a critical transition for wave energy development. Finally, a techno-economical assessment of the EMG and a complete Business Plan for commercialization will be developed. Such activities will be carried out by an international consortium with multi-disciplinary skills in marine energy, led by a leading-manufacturing company as Umbra Cuscinetti S.p.A. The IMAGINE project is related to the topic “Developing the next generation technologies of renewable electricity and heating/cooling”, under the category “Ocean Energy: Development of advanced ocean energy subsystems: innovative power take-off systems and control strategies.

Large engineering structures like turbines, bridges or industrial machinery are still manufactured by traditional processes such as forging, casting or by machining from solid blocks. These processes do not allow local control of material properties to achieve a specific function like anti-corrosion or hardness. To meet the functional specifications, engineers must operate within a limited range of design options, with high “buy-to-fly” ratios and long lead times. Unlike any other metal AM technology, wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) produces fully dense metallic structures with no porosity. WAAM is also unbeatable in terms of production times, making it uniquely suited for large and functionally demanding engineering structures. In Grade2XL, we will demonstrate the potential of multi-material wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) for large scale structures. The high printing rate of WAAM, combined with the ability to control material properties down to the nanoscale, will allow us to build strong and durable engineering structures. Grade2XL will deliver multi-material products of superior quality and performance, cut lead times by up to 96% and enable massive cost savings for the maritime and energy industry, as well as for industrial machinery. These outputs will rapidly roll out to other sectors with similar key performance indicators and become an attractive investment opportunity for SMEs. This project will strengthen Europe’s capacity to drive manufacturing innovation globally and withstand growing competition from Asia.

NOVIMAR aims to adjust inland/short-sea shipping such that it can make optimal use of the waterborne system of waterways, vessels and ports/terminals. To achieve this NOVIMAR introduces the waterborne version of 'platooning', the Vessel Train. This is in essence a number of unmanned Follower Ships with own sailing/manoeuvring capabilities being temporarily led by a manned Leader Ship. Vessels will be able to join and leave such trains at places adjacent to their points of origin and destination at seaside or inland. Envisaged main benefits and impacts are: Reduction of crew costs result in up to 47% total cost reduction for IWT and up to 88% crew cost reduction for short sea transport, Enhanced Logistic flexibility, 10-15 % Less energy use/emissions, Solutions for overcoming barriers between transport modes and High potential for reducing road congestion and associated costs. Lower costs increases the attractiveness of small vessels at sea and inland, hereby increasing access to urban areas located at small waterways (CEMT I/II), with no need for sizeable investments in infrastructures. SME’s benefits include enhanced competitiveness and improved working conditions for vessel owners/operators, and market opportunities for equipment suppliers. NOVIMAR technology developments include measuring, control and communication systems, and navigation aids for IWT use. NOVIMAR work structure contains 5 technical Work Packages dedicated to the Transport system, Impact assessment, Navigation, Cargo systems and vessels, and Safety and human skills issues. The consortium contains 22 partners: logistic operators, industry, public bodies and research organisations from 7 EU and 2 associated countries. The project duration is 48 months, required funding is €7,9 million.

Ocean Energy can play an important role in addressing one of the EU’s biggest challenges: providing clean, affordable and sustainable energy. However, ocean energy technologies are not yet mature enough to overcome all challenges related to performance, reliability, survivability, and resulting cost of energy. DTOceanPlus will accelerate the commercialisation of the Ocean Energy sector by developing and demonstrating an open source suite of design tools for the selection, development, deployment and assessment of ocean energy systems (including sub-systems, energy capture devices and arrays). This will align innovation and development processes with those used in mature engineering sectors. - Technology concept selection will be facilitated by a Structured Innovation tool. - Technology development will be enabled by a Stage-Gate tool. - Technology deployment will be supported by a 2nd generation of the FP7 DTOcean tools. This suite of design tools will reduce the technical and financial risks of the technology to achieve the deployment of cost-competitive wave and tidal arrays. DTOceanPlus will underpin a rapid reduction in the Levelised Cost of Energy offered by facilitating improvement in the reliability, performance and survivability of ocean energy systems and analysing the impact of design on energy yield, O&M and the environment, thus making the sector more attractive for private investment. These objectives and impacts will be achieved through the implementation of 9 work packages covering user engagement, tool development, demonstration of tools against real projects (thus outputting a suite of tools at TRL 6), analysis of supply chains and potential markets, exploitation, dissemination and education. The DTOceanPlus consortium has been formed to include representatives of all key user and stakeholder groups. It includes all core partners from the FP7 DTOcean project along with the developers of Europe’s leading ocean energy sub-systems, devices and arrays.