Abstract
For the marine renewable energy sector to meet its commercialisation targets and became successful in its development, a required enhanced collaboration between actors in the sector and especially among research institutions is needed. In particular this document presents the research priorities and development needs of the sector to meet commercialisation targets that the Partnership for Research in Marine Renewable Energy (PRIMaRE) has identified.
PRIMaRE is a consortium of marine renewable energy experts across higher education, research and industry which have joined together to establish a 'network of excellence' centred in the south of the UK. The Universities of Plymouth, Exeter, Southampton, Bristol and Bath, along with the Marine Biological Association of the UK and Plymouth Marine Laboratory, have agreed to work together on research projects across the spectrum of marine renewables. Completing the line-up of the Partnership for Research in Marine Renewable Energy (PRIMaRE) is the South West Marine Energy Park (SW MEP) and the Wave Hub facility off the north coast of Cornwall, who will act as conduits between the research community and industry.
In order to speed up the development of the marine renewable energy sector and its supply chain, especially in the south of England, PRIMaRE and the SW MEP have identified the following research priorities and development needs, which are set out in this document. Taking advantage of DECC’s UK Marine Energy Programme Board (MEPB) annual meeting, which took place in Plymouth on the 5th of March, PRIMaRE in collaboration with the SW MEP organised a priorities scoping workshop the preceding day. The present document is the result from the inputs and discussions taken at such workshop where representatives from the different PRIMaRE partners, the industry, SW MEP and Wave Hub where present.
The research priorities presented in this document have been grouped in to three main categories - (i) technical research priorities, (ii) interdisciplinary research priorities and (iii) environmental priorities -, attending where the priorities affect directly to the development of the technology, where they look at possible effects of the MRE devices on the environment or where they tackle at the same time a combined effect on the technology development, the environment and other factors (i.e., impacts on local communities). Nevertheless, each one of the research priorities presented in this document needs to be tackled following a multidisciplinary approach where, technical, environmental and social aspects needs to be addressed.