IHCantabria participates in the recently awarded MAR+ project: towards a better use of marine energies.

The origin of this initiative dates back to 2014, when BiMEP and IHCantabria established a strategic alliance to generate a joint scientific-technical service offer, which crystallized in the TRL+ project. This project has been useful to develop ocean observation and operational systems, in order to promote the management of the BiMEP test area, as well as to integrate the different scales of work, laboratory and open sea, under a single service offer. After TRL+, other collaborative initiatives emerged, such as the EuropeWave or TurboWave project, in which both institutions collaborate to promote marine renewable energies in Spain.

The Mutriku plant recently joined BiMEP. It is a plant that generates electricity from wave energy, was inaugurated more than 10 years ago and has been generating electricity uninterruptedly since March 2012. Without losing its status as an electricity generation plant, it offers great possibilities to host trials of new developments in power extraction systems (air turbines) for oscillating water column. At this point, the need for a modeling and characterization work of this facility arises, in order to start building the same services as the rest of the laboratories of the consortium.

In this context, the objective of the MAR+ project is to contribute to the development of testing and experimentation procedures and techniques, in order to project BiMEP and IHCantabria as the first accredited entity in the world for the inspection, testing and characterization of marine energy converters, at field and laboratory scale.

THE MARINE ENERGY SECTOR

Recent studies have shown significant progress in the field of marine energy, including wave energy (which harnesses the power of ocean waves to generate electricity) and offshore wind energy. Because of their contribution to the development of a low-carbon economy and to the fulfillment of the Paris objectives, more and more attention and support is being given to the implementation of this type of energy. For this reason, marine energies have gone from being considered an emerging sector to being valued as a fully industrial sector.

However, the rate of technological evolution of wave energy is not similar. Unlike wind power technologies (whose evolution has been remarkable at the national and international level, up to the creation of floating wind farms), wave energy is still in a technological validation phase. To overcome this phase, the contribution of testing centers is fundamental, as they contribute to reducing the risks of empirical validation, linked to scientific knowledge and under an industrial perspective established by the market.

Currently, there is a set of standards (i.e. IEC 62600) that are being consolidated as the standard to which the different technological developments must refer, in order to give confidence to investors and administrations. At present, only an entity called EMEC(European Marine Energy Centre in Scotland) is recognized as a renewable energy testing laboratory by the International Electrotechnical Commission for Renewable Energy (IECRE). EMEC is accredited to provide inspection and testing services.

BiMEP and IHCantabria

IHCantabria
has the mission to promote scientific excellence and its transfer with a multidisciplinary and collaborative approach, to drive innovation that contributes to accelerate the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the achievement of a just, inclusive, responsible and resilient society.

BiMEP
is an infrastructure for testing prototypes of marine energy collectors and auxiliary equipment in the open sea, located off the coast of Armintza. Operating since June 2015, BiMEP, offers technology developers an area with a wave and wind resource suitable for demonstrating the technical and economic feasibility of different concepts, as well as their safety before moving to a full-scale commercial state.