The European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) is to continue to support the development of the Korea Research Institute of Ships and Ocean Engineering (KRISO) wave energy test site on the western coast of Jeju Island.
EMEC said the agreement builds on three years of collaboration and strengthens the ties between itself and KRISO.
Previous collaborative work focused on test site design aspects, such as electrical infrastructure, data acquisition and SCADA systems, as well as operational aspects including environmental monitoring and consenting guidance.
As the test site enters operational mode, EMEC will provide further operational guidance around environmental impacts, metocean data, commercial guidance and third-party verification.
EMEC international development manager Rob Flynn said: “As the world’s largest shipbuilder, Korea brings considerable and very welcome expertise to the wave energy challenge.
“KRISO’s maritime engineering expertise runs very deep and EMEC is proud to support our Korean colleagues in the development of KRISO-WETS.
“The EMEC team has learnt a lot about how to do things, and how not to do things over the years, and we want to share that information for the benefit of our test site colleagues around the world.”
KRISO-WETS principal investigator Jong-Su Choi said: “EMEC is the most experienced organization in the world for operating both wave and tidal energy test sites.
“KRISO has been developing the wave energy test site very efficiently with the support of EMEC since 2016. KRISO seeks to become an advanced technology hub for wave energy open sea test sites based on this international cooperation.”