COREWIND-FINAL-EVENT-POSTING

COREWIND achieves a cost-reduction of more than 15% for floating offshore wind technologies!

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Today, 80% of offshore wind potential is located in waters deeper than 50 metres. Floating offshore wind has the potential to tap into these offshore wind resources. To become climate-neutral by 2050, Europe needs up to 150 GW of floating offshore wind. This is feasible but cost-efficiency is still a key issue for floating wind to deploy in Europe. The COREWIND project therefore aimed at achieving significant cost reductions and enhancing performance of floating wind technology through innovation and optimisation at all phases of a project’s lifecycle (design, choice of components, operations & maintenance).

On April 25, during the project’s final event in Copenhagen, COREWIND partners announced they achieved a cost reduction between 11% and 18% for floating offshore wind technologies (depending on the scenario and site conditions analysed).

The coordinator of the project, Jose Luis Domínguez García (Head of Power System Group in IREC), mentioned, “We are really proud of what has been achieved; since we have developed several impactful innovations tackling different aspects and components from floating wind that lead to cost reduction but also minimisation of the environmental impact. We consider that COREWIND is a great success and a reference project in the sector.”

In total, 155 participants (79 in-person and 76 online) joined the COREWIND final event to hear about the innovative solutions that helped achieve this final cost reduction. These solutions include, for example:

  • Optimised designs of two floating sub-structures (concrete spar and semi-sub) for 15 MW floating wind turbines in farms;
  • Solutions to optimise the mooring design including an optimisation tool and the analysis of several innovations such as shared anchors or shared mooring lines;
  • Analysis and comparison between different cable system configuration options;
  • Solutions to optimise Operations & Maintenance strategies such as major component exchange strategies, impact of using crane vessels, self-hoisting crane;
  • More than 135 experimental tests carried out to validate the solutions including wind tunnel and basin tests;
  • The “FowApp” application which allows to calculate the full Levelised Cost of Energy and the Life Cycle Assessment of an asset from cradle-to-grave.

In total, more than 25 exploitable results have been identified within the project including product services but also transferable knowledge.

The COREWIND final event was organised in parallel with WindEurope’s annual event 2023. This was the perfect opportunity for the project partners to meet with some of the key actors of the wind industry who showed significant interest in the COREWIND solutions.

The event was also the occasion to create synergies with other EU-funded projects focusing on floating wind Research & Innovation. The AFLOWT and FLOATECH projects joined COREWIND in a panel to discuss the similarities between their projects and how to accelerate the commercialisation of floating wind technologies. As a common next step, panellists agreed: “We need, as soon as possible, open data to validate these optimised designs and tools so they are ready to be used by the industry.”

All the COREWIND results and publications are available on the COREWIND website here and on the Zenodo platform here.

Any question? Please contact [email protected]

WindEurope Quarterly Newsletter on EU Research and Innovation policy, Funding Opportunities and Projects December 2022

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(…) In September 2022, a video was produced recapping COREWIND’s objectives and presentingthe optimised solutions developed at the design phase, at the component level and for theoperations and maintenance aspects. You can check it out
here.
Recently, RAMBOLL made significant progress analysing floating wind transport and installationstrategies and developing optimised solutions for a reference floating wind farm of 80 units usingsemi-submersible and spar substructures. Findings will be made publicly available in early 2023.
The project has identified 21 exploitable results which will be further analysed in the upcomingmonths to define the next development needs and commercialisation strategies.

READ THE FULL NEWSLETTER!

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WindEurope Quarterly Newsletter on EU Research and Innovation Policy, Funding Opportunities and Projects March 2023

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Upcoming EU Funding Opportunities and Research & Innovation policy

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The 2023 Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) Energy call to qualify for the status of Cross-Border Renewable Energy Sources (CB RES) project is now open! This is the second call to receive the CB RES status and to be added to the list of projects eligible for financial support for studies and works under the CEF Energy Programme. CEF Energy is the EU’s funding instrument supporting investments to build new cross-border energy infrastructure across Europe, or to upgrade existing infrastructure.CB RES projects are a new window for renewable energy funding focusing on cross-border cooperation between EU Members States, but also between Member States and non-EU countries.

The deadline for proposals is 3 May.

Please find more information about the call and the application process for CB RES status here, or contact Nina Mavrogeorgou.

The European Commission launched five calls with a budget of €296m to support EU Missions under the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2023-2024.EU Missions are a unique feature of the Horizon Europe research and innovation programme for the period 2021-2027.
Two calls relevant to offshore wind are open under the ‘Healthy Oceans Mission’ with a deadline on 20 September:

  • Innovative nature–inclusive concepts to reconcile offshore renewables with ocean protection.
  • Analysis of the obstacles and opportunities for repurposing aged/unused offshore infrastructures.

You can access the call requirements and find all relevant information about the procedure at the Commission’s funding and tenders portal here.

Last January, the European Commission organised Info Days on EU Missions. You can still access the recordings here.

The third call for small-scale projects under the Innovation Fund will open on 30 March with a deadline for applications on 19 September. €100m will be available for projects with capital expenditure between €2.5 and €7.5 million.

Are you submitting a project under the small-scale project call? The European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA) and the European Commission’s DG Climate Action are organising an online Info Day on 20 April. Register here.

For more information, contact Iván Pineda.

On 16 March the European Commission published its proposal for a Net Zero Industry Act that will create a simpler regulatory framework for net-zero industries in the EU. The Act aims to scale-up the manufacturing of technologies key to achieving climate-neutrality, including on- and offshore wind, grid technologies, batteries and storage, electrolysers and fuel cells.

Among the actions outlined in the Net Zero Act, the European Commission set out the following points to facilitate net-zero industry financing:

    To establish a Net Zero Europe Platform, made up of Member States and the Commission, that together with relevant financial institutions will discuss private sources of financing, investment needs, financing bottlenecks, existing financial instruments and EU funds. It will also discuss cooperation between the EU and third countries to diversify trade and investments in net-zero technologies.
  • The creation of a European Sovereignty Fund to support European technologies relevant to the green transition and climate-neutrality.
  • Greater promotion of the Recovery and Resilience Facility, InvestEU, the Innovation Fund, Important Projects of Common European Interest and other cohesion policy programmes to fund investments in net-zero technology manufacturing projects.
  • Allowing Member States to set up regulatory sandboxes to develop and test innovative net-zero technologies and to stimulate innovation.

The proposal will now be discussed and agreed by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union.

You can access the full Net Zero Industry Act proposal here and the factsheet here.

On 16 March the European Commission presented its proposal for the European Hydrogen Bank (EHB). Its objective is to help achieve the production of 10 million tonnes of renewable hydrogen domestically and to facilitate 10 million tonnes of imports by 2030. The communication introduces two new financing mechanisms to support renewable hydrogen:

  • An auction under the EU Innovation Fund for the domestic production of renewable hydrogen. The Commission is preparing the first auction, planned for the autumn of 2023 with an indicative budget of €800m. The auction award is a fixed premium (€) per kg of hydrogen for a maximum of 10 years.
  • A green (fixed) premium auction for imports from nonEU suppliers. In the long-term demand aggregation and joint auctioning of renewable hydrogen using experiences from the EU Energy Platform and AggregateEU.

The EHB will also streamline existing financing instruments. It will improve cross-sectoral financing knowledge-sharing and awareness of EU support instruments. For example, there will be direct support to the hydrogen value chain under the Innovation Fund. And it will use existing platforms such as the European Chemical Agency, the Hydrogen Energy Network and EU funding information platforms.

You can access the full communication here and the factsheet here.

For more information about the Net Zero Industry Act or European Hydrogen Bank, contact Iván Pineda.

SAVE THE DATE –
important dates on EU funding opportunities and related events

20 April 2023

Info Day

Innovation Fund – Third call for small-scale projects info day

3 May 2023

Deadline for applications

2023 Call for Cross-Border Renewable Energy (CB RES) projects – Application process for CB RES status

20 September 2023

Deadline for applications

Horizon Europe Missions – Cross-basin topic – Innovative nature-inclusive concepts to reconcile offshore renewables with ocean protection

Deadline for applications

Horizon Europe Missions – Cross-basin topic – Analysis of the obstacles and opportunities for repurposing aged/unused offshore infrastructures

19 April 2023 & 20 September 2023

Next deadlines for applications (multiple cut-offs)

Just Transition Mechanism Public Sector Loan Facility call for proposals

mid-May

Upcoming opening of call for proposal

LIFE Clean Energy Transition calls for proposals

News from WindEurope projects

READY4DC is an EU-funded project creating and engaging a community of experts to assess and give recommendations on the major technical and legal aspects of designing and building an interoperable multi-vendor Direct Current (DC) grid.

Save the date for its 2nd Stakeholder Engagement event! It will take place online on 3 May at 14:00. The READY4DC Working Package leaders will share the latest updates on project activities and present the main findings of READY4DC’s most recent publications.

Read the full agenda here.

Interested? Join us on 3 May! REGISTER HERE

To get the latest news on the project you can subscribe to the mailing list by clicking here.

And to subscribe to the project expert working groups or for any more info, please contact Maria Kotofolou.

The COREWIND project offers disruptive and cost-effective solutions for floating offshore wind technology, bringing costs down to less than €100/MWh. This innovative project is developing research, modelling and optimisation for concrete-based semi-submersible and spar floating substructures.

After 3 years COREWIND experts are ready to publish the final cost-reduction figure achieved through the solutions developed within the project. These solutions will be presented at the COREWIND final event, taking place in Copenhagen (and online) on 26 April 10:45-14:00.

Don’t miss it if you’re eager to improve the cost-competitiveness
of floating offshore wind, REGISTER HERE!

On 15 March COREWIND partners met online to take stock of the key steps achieved over the past six months in helping to cut floating offshore wind costs. And they achieved a lot!

  • Project partners have carried out extensive simulations on optimised mooring systems and the optimised design of floaters. Key recommendations on the design of mooring connections and the design of concrete floaters will be published soon.
  • hey have also developed relevant strategies and models to design and optimise the station keeping systems. The final designs for the three geographies are compliant with ultimate and fatigue limit states.
  • Currently they are preparing design guidance for dynamic cabling systems. The guidance for this will include design considerations on aspects such as water depth, loading conditions or locations of hardware.
  • The results of a case study at Morro Bay (US) for the Transport and Installation strategies have been published – including recommendations and a selection of the most promising installation scenarios.
  • The experimental validation of the fully coupled system is moving forward. Project partners will carry out more than 135 tests for the scale prototypes of WindCrete (spar) and ActiveFloat (semi-sub).
  • Partners are doing the last calculations on the final cost-reduction figures. The final report will include all cost-saving opportunities for floating offshore wind.
  • And finally… COREWIND partners are preparing a final go-to-market plan along with a report identifying the main market and research opportunities in different parts of the world.

Follow the project on TWITTER and LINKEDIN

For more information, contact Capucine Vannoorenberghe

About COREWIND: The COREWIND project provides disruptive and cost-effective solutions for floating offshore wind technology leading to cost reduction. It is developing innovative research, modelling and optimisation for concrete-based floating substructure concepts.

The Forward Looking at the Offshore RenewableS (FLORES) project officially kicked-off in January. 15 organisations across eight countries in Europe have teamed up to create tools and activities to foster the development of the skills needed for the future expansion of offshore wind.

FLORES’ core objective is to promote the core activity of the Large-scale partnership launching the Pact for Skills in the Offshore Renewable Energies (ORE) sector.

FLORES partners will monitor training opportunities across Europe and the needs of the sector through a dedicated skills observatory. Through FLORES we will also promote careers across the sectors and will develop training and educational materials for all ages. These efforts are coupled with regional pilot actions aiming to adapt training materials to the needs of Europe’s sea basins in the Atlantic, the Baltic and the Mediterranean.

Project partners met in Ferrol on 2 and 3 March, during the Galician Offshore International Hub(GoInterHub) and took part in the Working Group meetings of the Pact for Skills in the ORE, laying out some of the main milestones and activities of FLORES.

FLORES partners will organise two meetings in Copenhagen, during the WindEurope Annual Event this April. On 26 April we will host a close-door meeting between partners and the Large-Scale Partnership launching the Pact for Skills in the Offshore Renewable Energy sector. On 27 April we will organise a workshop on skills needs in the offshore sector. This workshop is open to all participants (with a limited capacity) especially those working for companies in the ORE value chain (preferably HR managers), industry associations, industry experts, representatives of academia and vocational, education and training centres.

Are you interested in joining our workshop?

Do you want to learn more about the FLORES project?

ContactNina Mavrogeorgou.

The EU project “ Enabling interoperability of multi-vendor High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) grids” (InterOPERA) kicked off in January in Lyon, France.

InterOPERA received one of the highest figures of EU project funding from the Horizon Europe programme and brings 21 European partners together to unlock the potential of HVDC grids and to promote a large-scale EU energy transition.

The main objective of the project is to make future HVDC systems mutually compatible and interoperable by design, to improve the grid forming capabilities of offshore and onshore converters and to pave the way for the first HVDC multi-terminal, multi-vendor, multi-purpose real-life projects in Europe.

Join the InterOPERA mailing list and keep up to date about the work we’re doing. Click here to subscribe and visit our website!

For more information, contact Nina Mavrogeorgou

Legal notice: The views represented in this newsletter are those of its authors and do not represent the views or official position of the European Commission.

Another successful Consortium meeting for the COREWIND project

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With the end of the project slowly approaching, the COREWIND partners met online today to discuss their final activities before publishing the results. During a fruitful 5-hour meeting, the partners recounted the key steps achieved over the past six months in reducing the costs of floating offshore wind. And they achieved a lot!

  • Extensive simulations have been carried out on the optimised mooring systems and the optimised design of floaters. Key recommendations on the design of mooring connections and the design of concrete floaters will be published soon.
  • Relevant strategies and models have been developed to design and optimise the station keeping systems. The final designs for the three geographies are compliant with ultimate and fatigue limit states.
  • Design guidance for dynamic cabling systems is currently being prepared and will include design considerations on several aspects such as water depth, loading conditions or locations of hardware.
  • The results of a case study at Morro Bay (US) for the Transport and Installation strategies have been published – including recommendations and a selection of the most promising installation scenarios.
  • The experimental validation of the fully coupled system is progressing. This includes over 135 tests to be conducted for the scale prototypes of WindCrete (spar) and ActiveFloat (semi-sub).
  • The final cost-reduction is being calculated and will soon be finalised. The final report will include all cost-saving opportunities for floating offshore wind.
  • A final go-to-market plan is being prepared along with a report identifying the main market and research opportunities in different parts of the world.

As the next step, a final hybrid event will be organised on 26 April in Copenhagen to officially publish the final cost-reduction outcomes, and the results of the Life-Cycle Assessment for the different scenarios.

Don’t miss it if you’re eager to improve cost-competitiveness of floating offshore wind!

REGISTER HERE FOR THE FINAL EVENT

ActiveFloat Platform livestream test

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Within the framework of the COREWIND European project, IHCantabria have successfully finished the ambitious large-scale tests campaign of two novel concrete-based concepts: WindCrete and ActiveFloat. For the last three months, more than 120 experimental tests including fully coupled wave-current-wind testing as well as installation testing, have been conducted on both floating platforms in the Cantabria Coastal and Ocean Basin (CCOB) facility at Environmental Hydraulics Institute of the Universidad de Cantabria.

The seakeeping tests on the novel floating offshore wind spar-based concept, WindCrete, designed by UPC School (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya) have been carried out at a scale 1:55. On the novel semisubmersible-based platform with active ballast, ActiveFloat, developed by Grupo Cobra and Esteyco, the tests campaign has been made at a scale 1:40. The outcome results validate the COREWIND achievements and will contribute to mature innovative concrete-made solutions called to untap European offshore wind potential.

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WindEurope Quarterly Newsletter on EU Research and Innovation policy, Funding Opportunities and Projects September 2022

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Upcoming EU Funding Opportunities and Research & Innovation policy
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Wind energy related project calls open under the Horizon Europe Work Programme:

Opening date: 26 May 2022. Deadline for applications: 27 October 2022:

Opening date: 6 September. Deadline for applications: 10 January 2023:
You can access all the available calls through the Commission’s funding and tenders portal here. Information on all topics of the Horizon Europe’s climate, energy, and mobility cluster (#5) and advice on how to draft a good proposal are available on the European. Commission website here.

 

The third call for projects under the Innovation Fund will open in November 2022 with a deadline for applications in March 2023. The call will include a window for manufacturing renewables, and there will be specific windows for hydrogen, storage, and CCS projects.

WindEurope, together with all other European renewable energy associations, is preparing recommendations for the European Commission on how to improve the evaluation framework of projects for renewables under the Innovation Fund.

Are you submitting a project under the large-scale project call? Be sure to get in touch with us to share your views on howto boost your project’s chances of success in our advice to the European Commission.

Workshops on the lessons learnt from the2nd large-scale call for projects will be held on 29 November, and the ‘Info Days’ event on the Innovation Fund will take place on 30 November. Registration will open in the coming months via this page.

For more info, get in touch with Iván Pineda.

 

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On 19 and 20 September the European Commission resumed the PCI (Projects of Common Interest) Energy Days, a policy conference and exhibition looking at the practical implementation of Projects of Common Interest (PCIs). The third edition of this event took place in Brussels, but the recording of the event was webstreamed on YouTube.

Project promoters showcased their projects and recalled their experience of how best to accelerate the development and deployment of key PCIs.

The current list of projects (the 5th PCI list) features 67 electricity projects, 20 for gas, 6 for cross border CO2 transport and storage and 5 for smart grids. A 6th list of PCIs will be drafted in the autumn under the revised rules of the Trans-European Energy Networks Regulation (TEN-E) which have recently entered into force.

For more information, contact Iván Pineda.

European Research and Innovation Days

European Research and Innovation Days is the European Commission’s annual flagship Research and Innovation event, bringing together policymakers, researchers, entrepreneurs and the public to discuss and shape the future of research and innovation in Europe and beyond.

The event will take place online on 28 and 29 September 2022, giving anyone interested the chance to get involved from anywhere. The conference programme is now available and participants can register here– and stay tuned for more news und updates.

For more information, contact Nina Mavrogeorgou.

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Connecting Europe Facility

The European Commission has established the first list of renewable energy cross-border (CB RES (Renewable Energy Sources)) projects under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF).

CB RES projects aim to promote cross-border cooperation between Member States (and between Member States and non-EU countries) in the field of planning, development and cost-effective exploitation of renewable energy sources.

This first list includes three projects, relevant for a total of seven Member States. These include a hybrid offshore wind park between Estonia and Latvia, a cross-border district heating grid based on RES between Germany and Poland, and a project to produce renewable electricity in Italy, Spain and Germany for the conversion, transport and use of green hydrogen in the Netherlands and Germany.

By acquiring the official CB RES status, projects are now eligible for financial support for studies and works under the CEF Programme.

The ELWIND project is an offshore wind project, involving Estonia and Latvia, featuring a hybrid grid connection with interconnector and transmission lines connecting the two countries and aiming at an annual renewable electricity output of about 3 to 3.5 TWh per year. The plan is to build two offshore wind parks, one in Estonian and one in Latvian waters. The ultimate aims are to pilot a cross-border hybrid project concept in the Baltic Sea for replication in other locations, and to improve the security of supply in the region.

Overview of EU funding programmes relevant for financing offshore renewable energy projects. 

The European Commission has launched an overview of EU funding programmes relevant to financing offshore renewable energy projects. For each programme listed, information is also available on eligible investments, previously funded offshore projects and how different EU programmes can be combined.

The overview can be accessed through this link.

Official date to be announced! In October, WindEurope will organise a webinar together with the European Commission for project promoters to learn more about the different funding programmes.

If you are interested in attending or want to know more, contact Nina Mavrogeorgou.

 

The Clean Energy Transition Partnership 

The Clean Energy Transition Partnership (CETPartnership) is a co-funded partnership between the European Union and European Member States and Associated Countries. It brings together 50 national and regional research, development, and innovation (RDI) programmes aimed at boosting and accelerating the clean energy transition.

From 2021 to 2027, the CETPartnership will publish annual joint calls for projects worth around €100-130m per year. These calls are defined based on a Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda with input from more than 200 experts.

 On 14 September, the CETPartnership launched their first annual joint call with an estimated budget of around €100m, and organised along seven Transition Initiatives (TRIs)

    • TRI 1 Integrated Net-zero-emissions Energy System Call Modules

    • TRI 2: Enhanced zero emission Power Technologies

    • TRI 3: Enabling Climate Neutrality with Storage Technologies, Renewable Fuels and CCU/CCS

    • TRI 4: Efficient zero emission Heating and Cooling Solutions

    • TRI 5 Integrated Regional Energy Systems Call Module

    • TRI 6: Integrated Industrial Energy Systems

    • TRI 7: Integration in the Built Environment

Under the TRI 2, two calls are particularly relevant for wind energy technologies:

    • Advancing RE (Renewable Energy) technologies for power production through cost reduction: relevant topics could include novel wind turbine system design, optimisation, scale-up and increased lifetime of onshore and offshore wind turbines, technologies, and systems for the cost-efficient repowering of existing wind farms.

    • Breakthrough R&D to increase RE power technologies efficiency: relevant topics could include improving the understanding of atmospheric and wind power plant flow physics for designing novel wind turbine systems.

The call is suited for projects aiming for solutions with medium to high TRLs (Technology Readiness Level) (6-8) combining technological development, market-related solutions, and stakeholder involvement.

The deadline to submit pre-proposals is 23 November. More information can be found here.

News from WindEurope Projects

The Corewind project offers disruptive and cost-effective solutions for floating offshore wind technology, bringing costs down to less than 100€/MWh. This innovative project is developing research, modelling and optimisation for concrete-based semi-submersible and spar floating structure concepts.

In August 2022, the project carried out a survey on the levelised cost of energy from floating offshore wind to validate its modelling, and held an expert workshop to discuss its findings with industry experts.

The survey showed that there are no design and manufacturing limits for very large foundations. It also showed that the installation and maintenance of moorings and the design of the electrical connection have the highest impact on cost at wind farm level. It observed that companies carry out predictive maintenance regularly and, and that the use of new techniques like self-hoisting cranes, remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) need more standard designs for wider adoption.

You can read a summary of the survey here. COREWIND has also published an updated flyer with the main results achieved so far in the project.

Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

For more information, visit our website or contact Lizet Ramírez.

About Corewind: The COREWIND project provides disruptive and cost-effective solutions for floating offshore wind technology leading to cost reduction. It is developing innovative research, modelling and optimisation for concrete-based floating substructure concepts. 

On 20 September, ETIPWind elected a new Steering Committee ahead of the kick-off for its next cycle of activities from 2022-2025. The Steering Committee consists of 36 experts and one observer, including 23 industry representatives and 14 research representatives.

Adrian Timbus from Hitachi Energy, Head of Portfolio and Strategic Marketing, will continue to chair the platform while Jacob Edmonds, Head of Innovation in Ørsted, and Susanne Nies, General Manager Germany in Smart Wires were elected as Vice Chairs.

ETIPWind will provide expert advice to the European Commission on the research, technology and innovation priorities in the wind energy sector.

One of the next steps for the platform will be to update its Strategic Research & Innovation Agenda (SRIA), inputting the Horizon Europe Work Programme for 2025. It will also prepare recommendations for National Governments as they revise their National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs) next year.

ETIPWind will be hosting a high-level event in Brussels on 13 October 2022 (from 9:00-14:30 CEST).

The event will be hybrid and registrations are open here. For more information, contact Capucine Vannoorenberghe.

About ETIPWind: ETIPWind works to define and agree on concrete research and innovation (R&I) priorities and communicate these to the European institutions and other decision-making bodies in order to support the EU’s ambition of a decarbonised economy by 2050.

 

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Workshop on Renewable Energy 

4 October 2022 – 10:00 am CET 

On 4 October the European Commission will run a workshop to explore the exchange of information, synergies and clustering between offshore renewable energy projects, funded by both the EMFF/EMFAF and other funding programmes. Its main goal is to establish a framework to foster information exchange, networking and cooperation across projects and beneficiaries.

The workshop will showcase success stories, information and funding options for project coordinators to consider, with the objective of establishing synergies and stimulating potential cooperation in the field of offshore renewable energy.

The EMFF has funded 14 projects dealing with offshore renewable energy.

Further, one more project, ESENSE, while not primarily focusing on energy, deals with survey, inspection, maintenance and repair of offshore infrastructure, including renewable energy facilities.

Based on the experience thus far, it seems that not all EMFF-project beneficiaries are determined to seek cooperation with other projects. In fact, carrying out projects in silos is far from ideal in terms of advancing the blue economy and achieving the sea-basin strategies objectives. However, previous experience has shown that there is ample room for cooperation between project beneficiaries.

The workshop will take place online on 4 October 2022 from 10:00 to 13:00 CEST. An agenda and a link to join will be shared with registered participants closer to that date.

You can register here: https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/maritimeforum/en/node/7330.

Contact: Nina Mavrogeorgou

The READY4DC Project, supported by Horizon Europe, will create and engage a community of experts to assess and give recommendations on the major technical and legal aspects of designing and building an interoperable multi-vendor DC (Direct Current) grid. One major objective will be to lay the groundwork for the development of the first multi-terminal, multi-vendor HVDC (High Voltage Direct Current) (High Voltage Direct Current) project in Europe.

On 13 July the project partners welcomed more than 90 participants to an online event to present the project, its objectives and the progress achieved since the project was launched.

To access the recording of the event anddownload the presentation, click this link. On 19 and 20 September partners of READY4C exhibited at the PCI Energy Days event in Brussels. Details here. To get the latest news on the project you can subscribe to the mailing list by clicking here.

And to subscribe to the expert working groups of the project, please contact: Maria Kotofolou.

Legal notice: The views represented in this newsletter are those of its authors and do not represent the views or official position of the European Commission.

COREWIND project gathers experts to discuss cost reduction potential of floating offshore wind

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On Wednesday August 10 the COREWIND project carried out an online workshop to discuss the preliminary results of a survey which identified the main components to reduce the cost of floating offshore wind.

The workshop discussed in detail the cost reduction potential of certain design and operation choices across foundations, moorings, cables, installation, and O&M.

75 experts from developers, consultancies, certification bodies, universities, research institutes, turbine manufacturers, government authorities, marine contractors, and other suppliers attended the workshop.

The workshop also helped to validate the results from the COREWIND survey that experts answered ahead of the event.

The survey showed, among other things, that the there are no design and manufacturing limits for very large foundations. Also that the installation and maintenance of moorings and the design of the electrical connection have the highest impact on cost at wind farm level. And that companies carry out predictive maintenance regularly and that the use of new techniques like self-hoisting cranes, remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) require more standard designs for a wider adoption.

Click here to read the full survey result analysis and the questions discussed during the workshop.

WindEurope Quarterly Newsletter on EU Research and Innovation policy, Funding Opportunities and Projects June 2022

by News

Upcoming EU Funding Opportunities and Research & Innovation policy

New wind-energy related project calls are open as part of Horizon Europe. The relevant dates are:

Opening date: 26 May 2022. Deadline for applications: 27 October 2022:

Opening date: 6 September. Deadline for applications: 10 January 2023:

You can access all the available calls through the Commission’s funding and tenders portal here.

Information on all topics of the Horizon Europe’s climate, energy, and mobility cluster (#5) and advice on how to draft a good proposal are available on the European Commission website here.

The Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) is the EU’s funding instrument for cross-border infrastructure investments in energy, transport and telecoms with a total budget of €33.4bn. Energy has €2.4bn allocated for the 2021-2023 period, out of a total €5.8bn for the entire 2021-2027 period.

The CEF allocates up to 15% of its budget to cross-border projects in the field of renewable energy. This comes on top of Projects of Common Interest defined as part of the Trans-European Networks for Energy Regulation (TEN-E).

On 18 May the European Commission opened two CEF Energy calls for Projects of Common Interest (PCIs) to finance studies and works. There is €800 million available and the call closes on 1 September 2022.
 

 

All projects in the 5th PCI list are eligible for funding. The list has 67 electricity projects, 20 for gas, 6 for cross border CO2 transport and storage and 5 for smart grids. This is the final list under the previous TEN-E Regulation. The revised TEN-E takes effect on 23 June and a 6th list of PCIs will be drafted in the autumn.

On 8 June the European Commission organised a Virtual Info Day on the CEF calls for PCIs. All presentations and the recording of the live stream can be accessed here.

For more information, contact Iván Pineda.

The LIFE Clean Energy Transition Call for Proposals was published on the Funding & tender opportunities portal on 17 May.

In 2021 LIFE CET funded 18 topics across five areas of intervention – accelerating roll-out, digitalisation, new services and business models and the enhancement of skills, as well as attracting private financing for sustainable energy.

The LIFE CET programme has a budget of nearly €1bn for the period 2021-2027.

For more information, contact Iván Pineda.
 

On 18 May the European Commission published its REPowerEU plan, the EU’s energy response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The plan includes the frontloading of financing for the Innovation Fund, making €3bn available for the upcoming call for large-scale projects, which is due to open next autumn.

The call will include a window for manufacturing renewables, and there will be specific windows for hydrogen, storage, and CCS projects.

No renewable energy project for power generation has been awarded financing in the first two rounds – disbursing €2.5bn in total.

On 28 June WindEurope, together with all European renewable energy associations and the European Commission, will host a webinar on the lessons learnt from the first calls for projects and will look at how to ensure a higher rate of success for these projects.

In addition, the second call for small projects under the Innovation Fund is open with an application submission deadline of 31 August. The call has a budget of €100 million.

The agenda for the workshop is available here. And you can register here. For more information on the Innovation Fund, please contact Iván Pineda.

News from WindEurope Projects

The Corewind project offers disruptive and cost-effective solutions for floating offshore wind technology, bringing costs down to less than 100€/MWh. This innovative project is developing research, modelling and optimisation for concrete-based semi-submersible and spar floating structure concepts.
The project is in its third year of work and has achieved significant results including:

  • Design analyses and the optimisation of mooring and anchoring systems for floating wind.
  • General recommendations on O&M strategies for floating wind farms, covering a comprehensive set of floating wind-specific O&M requirements and a review of state-of-the-art inspection and maintenance strategies and monitoring techniques.
  • An assessment of the effects of bathymetry irregularities on the energy dissipation of a mooring line.
  • The development of the FowApp, a software assessing the performance, costs and environmental impact of floating offshore wind projects.
  • A review of existing international Floating Offshore Wind Turbine standards, an investigation into current commercial offerings and a work-in-progress status update of COREWIND design practice recommendations is presented in the report on preliminary market assessments and development needs.

The project will carry out a survey on the levelised cost of energy from floating offshore wind to validate its modelling. To take part in the survey please contact Lizet Ramírez.
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For more information, visit our website or contact Lizet Ramírez or José Luiz Domínguez.

About Corewind: The COREWIND project provides disruptive and cost-effective solutions for floating offshore wind technology leading to cost reduction. It is developing innovative research, modelling and optimisation for concrete-based floating substructure concepts.
 

The European Commission recently confirmed the financing of ETIPWind’s activities through to 2025! The platform has met several times in the last few months to discuss the future of ETIPWind and to start the process of updating the sector’s research and innovation priorities.

In April at WindEurope’s annual event in Bilbao, the Chief Technology Officers of ETIPWind (pictured above) met to take stock of the platform’s work and to consider the future challenges it should focus on.

ETIPWind experts met again in May and June to elaborate on the challenges identified by the CTOs linking them to the ETIPWind Roadmap. This work will be used to prepare recommendations for Governments as they revise their National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs) next year.

Save the date! ETIPWind will be hosting a high-level event in Brussels on 13 October 2022. The agenda and registration details will be issued soon. Make sure to stay connected with the platform to receive any additional news – you can subscribe to our news distribution list here.
 
For more information, contact Iván Pineda.
 
About ETIPWind: ETIPWind works to define and agree on concrete research and innovation (R&I) priorities and communicate these to the European institutions and other decision-making bodies in order to support the EU’s ambition of a decarbonised economy by 2050.


 

One of the key elements in REPowerEU – the European Commission’s plan to cut Europe’s reliance on Russian energy imports – is the simplification of permitting for renewable energy projects. The European Commission has issued three documents tackling the permitting issue, largely based on the recommendations of the RES Simplify project.

The documents include:

  1. Legislative amendments to the Renewable Energy Directive.
  2. Recommendations on speeding up permit-granting procedures for renewable energy projects and facilitating power purchase agreements.
  3. Guidance to Member States on good practices to speed up permit-granting procedures for renewable energy projects and on facilitating Power Purchase Agreements.

The interim results of RES Simplify project and the national reports were published together with REPowerEU on 18 May. You can find them here.

The project consortium will organise dissemination events across the EU Member States to promote the conclusions of the project.

For more information, please contact Viktoriya Kerelska.

About RES Simplify: RES SIMPLIFY project is a project funded by the European Commission on permitting renewable energy. It is coordinated by the Consultancy Eclareon, in partnership with Oeko-Institut, WindEurope and SolarPower Europe. The project aims to speed up the permitting process at a national level for new renewable energy projects, including onshore and offshore wind.
 

Legal notice: The views represented in this newsletter are those of its authors and do not represent the views or official position of the European Commission.

Corewind research on modelling mooring lines awarded best scientific poster and pitch at WindEurope Annual Event 2022

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Álvaro Rodríguez, Project Technician at Offshore Engineering and Marine Energies Group (IH Cantabria), was awarded for the best scientific poster at WindEurope’s Annual Event 2022 in Bilbao.

His poster entitled “Chain and nylon mooring lines for floating offshore wind foundations: numerical modelling validation” presents an alternative mooring system for floating wind, using hybrid systems made of steel chain, agglomeration weights and nylon rope as opposed to common steel catenary systems.

Modelling the hybrid system is crucial in understanding the behaviour of the coupled system. This model is part of the research done for the COREWIND project, which seeks to reduce the cost of floating wind technology through optimisation of coupled systems. This includes the turbine, floater, mooring, anchors and dynamic cables. You can see the author’s presentation of the poster here.

The poster was also presented at the “Floating structures and components” session on Day 2 of the Conference. This technical session looked at solutions and models aimed at improving the design and performance of floaters, such as semi-sub and spar. Álvaro pitched the main assumptions and findings in his research.

WindEurope Quarterly Newsletter on EU Research and Innovation policy, Funding Opportunities and Projects February 2022

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Upcoming EU Funding Opportunities and Research & Innovation policy

Horizon Europe project calls are open for the following wind energy-related topics with an application deadline on 23 February 2022:

And with an application deadline on 26 April 2022:

You can access all the available calls through the Commission funding and tenders portal here.On 3 February the European Commission organised an Info Day on the upcoming calls for Horizon Europe’s climate, energy, and mobility cluster (#5). The Info Day was followed by a brokerage event organised by National Contact Points to support the development of consortia.74 open topics were presented with an emphasis on providing advice on how to draft a good proposal and sharing the key lessons learnt from the first Horizon Europe evaluations. All sessions are available here. 

The Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) is the EU’s funding instrument for cross-border infrastructure investments. The CEF covers transport, telecoms, and energy which gets €5.8bn over the 2021-2027 period out of a total of €33.71bn.

On 26 January EU Member States agreed on a European Commission proposal to invest €1bn in five cross-border infrastructure projects under the CEF for trans-European energy networks. The largest amount of funding will go to the EuroAsia interconnector project (€657m) to support the first electricity interconnection between Cyprus and the European grid. Upcoming funding calls under the CEF will be focused on supporting projects that are identified in the 5th PCI list.The new Connecting Europe Facility programme also introduces a window for cross-border projects in the field of renewable energy, with an allocation of up to 15% of the CEF budget. This comes on top of Projects of Common Interest defined as part of the Trans-European Networks for Energy Regulation (TEN-E).The first call for cross-border renewables projects closed on 1 February, making €1m available to support preparatory studies before projects are presented for inclusion in the Union list of cross-border renewable energy projects. 

For more information, contact Iván Pineda. 

The LIFE Clean Energy Transition Call for Proposals will be published on the Funding & tender opportunities portal on 17 May 2022.In 2021 LIFE CET funded 18 topics across five areas of intervention, accelerating roll out, digitalisation, new services and business models and the enhancement of skills, as well as attracting private financing for sustainable energy.The LIFE CET programme has a budget of nearly €1bn for the period 2021-2027.For more information, contact Iván Pineda. 

The second call for large projects under the Innovation Fund is open with a deadline to submit applications by 3 March 2022. The call has a budget of €1.5bn. Key changes to this call are the creation of a separate category for ‘manufacturing of components for renewables’ and new categories to promote renewables in transport and heating & cooling.On 13 January the European Commission hosted a webinar on the lessons learnt from the first calls for projects in 2021. All relevant material can be found through this link.For more information, contact Iván Pineda. 

News from WindEurope projects

The Corewind project held its third dissemination event on 9 February. Project partners from IREC, INNOSEA, Ramboll and IHCantabria presented the project’s recent breakthrough findings for floating wind. WindEurope provided an overview of the state of play for floating offshore wind in Europe.You can access the webinar through this link.Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.For more information, visit our website or contact Lizet Ramírez.About Corewind: The COREWIND project provides disruptive and cost-effective solutions for floating offshore wind technology leading to cost reduction. It is developing innovative research, modelling and optimisation for concrete-based floating substructure concepts. 

ETIPWind has produced its latest factsheet on “Electricity grids for a climate-neutral Europe”, laying out the four key building blocks for a renewables-based energy system that is fit-for-55 and set for climate neutrality. The factsheet builds on the latest report published by ETIPWind and WindEurope in June 2021, which shows that renewables-based electrification is the most cost-effective way to decarbonise Europe’s economy. ETIPWind organised an online webinar on 9 December to launch the factsheet. The event saw energy experts come together to identify the key building blocks and technological solutions that will make Europe’s grids fit for a renewables-based energy system. During the webinar industry experts agreed that there is an urgent need to strengthen collaboration among stakeholders and to implement new technologies to deliver electricity grids that are able to bring about climate neutrality by 2050. You can access the full proceedings here. For more information, contact Iván Pineda. About ETIPWind: ETIPWind works to define and agree on concrete research and innovation (R&I) priorities and communicate these to the European institutions and other decision-making bodies in order to support the EU’s ambition of a decarbonised economy by 2050. 

Renewables are at the centre of a job-rich, cost-effective delivery of the European Green Deal. The European Union will have to double the rate of wind deployment alone to meet the EU’s 2030 renewable energy targets. The EU Renewable Energy Directive mandates Member States to simplify permitting – a maximum of 2 years for new projects, and 1 year for repowered ones. Yet authorisation processes are still the key bottleneck to unlocking the wind volumes Europe needs for net-zero. In Q1 2022 the RES-Simplify project will continue engaging national stakeholders to assemble best practices from across the EU on wind energy permitting, and to exchange information on how Member States can best implement the simplified permitting rules from the Renewables Directive as quickly as possible. Expect to see the project in action both in national capitals and at WindEurope’s Annual Event in Bilbao from 5-7 April. More information will follow shortly.These exchanges will support the European Commission in preparing its new Guidance to National Governments on simplifying and accelerating Permitting expected in the summer of 2022. And Don’t hold back on sharing your own views on how the Guidance can help simplify permitting – you can do so through the ongoing public consultation before 12 April.For more information, contact Viktoriya Kerelska.About RES Simplify: The RES SIMPLIFY project is a project funded by the European Commission on permitting of renewable energy. It is coordinated by the Consultancy Eclareon, partnering with Oeko-Institut, WindEurope and SolarPower Europe. The project aims to speed up the permitting process at a national level for new renewable energy projects, including onshore and offshore wind. 

Legal notice: The views represented in this newsletter are those of its authors and do not represent the views or official position of the European Commission.