EU aims for €70/MWh marine

Ocean energy developers must work towards generating electricity at a cost of €70 per MW hour by 2020 in order to demonstrate the viability of the industry.

Speaking this morning at the Ocean Energy Europe conference in Dublin, Marie Donnelly, the director of the renewables division of the European Commission, said generation costs must be examined.

“One of the most important challenges for the sector is cost reduction,” said Donnelly

“The target for 2020 for cost of reduction is €70 per mw hour, that’s where the competitive bar is today.”

She added: “It will come down, it won’t stay there, and it is not likely to go up. The challenge for today is how can you produce your energy in a competitive way around that €70 mark.”

Donnelly said other challenges facing the industry are issues around the viability of technologies and grid suitability. She also said supply chain constraints needed work to drive costs down.

“We need to look at how we industrialise the supply chain,” she said.

“We have between 10,000 and 15,000 people in the oil and gas industries unemployed. These people have skills and we have to try to ensure that we don’t lose that knowledge.”

Donnelly, however, said that ocean energy will play an “integral” role in the future of European electricity generation.”We really believe in Europe that we will be able to deliver this technology and we will get the benefit form it.”

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