ICOE-OEE was the first conference combining the International Conference on Ocean Energy (ICOE) and Ocean Energy Europe’s (OEE) annual conference. Held in the San Sebastián/Donostia, in Spain, the event took place from 18 to 20 October, with the organisers promising “an unparalleled opportunity for the [wave energy] sector to showcase its successes, network and do business”.
Is hybrid testing the key to accelerating wave energy development?
IMPACT’s main contribution to the conference was its side event, which took place on Thursday 20 October and was co-organised with fellow European wave energy project, Verification through Accelerated testing Leading to Improved wave energy Design (VALID).
Entitled “Is hybrid testing the key to accelerating wave energy development?”, the side event provided a general introduction to hybrid testing in the wave energy sector before delving deeper into specific aspects of the two projects. A panel discussion followed the presentations, where the audience had the opportunity to ask the presenters questions.
“It was great to attend ICOE-OEE and meet so many people working within wave and tidal energy development,” said Hans Christian Bolstad, senior project manager at SINTEF Energy Research and leader of IMPACT’s Project Results Exploitation and Dissemination work package (WP8). “The ICOE-OEE conference combined with our dedicated side event was a great opportunity to discuss and promote the benefits of hybrid testing within wave energy.”
A natural collaboration partner
As VALID answered the same Horizon 2020 call topic as IMPACT to develop new test rig devices for accelerating ocean energy technology development, hosting a joint side event was a natural collaboration for the two projects.
“The first event delivered jointly by the IMPACT and VALID projects turned out to be a great success,” said Natalia Rojas, a senior consultant at Aquatera: a partner in VALID. “IMPACT’s communication and dissemination team worked closely with VALID to organise an event of a high standard that both focused on accelerated hybrid testing and shared the progress from both projects. On behalf of the communication and dissemination team from VALID, we hope to collaborate with and be supported by IMPACT in future initiatives.”
VALID aims to adapt novel hybrid testing methodologies frequently used in the automotive industry, combining the virtual and physical environment, to create a Hybrid Testing Platform for wave energy devices. Centred around three user cases, VALID’s consortium of 13 partners hope to transform the fundamental approach to accelerated testing and establish the correlation between ocean and lab conditions, allowing for common testing procedures and convergence in technology across Europe.
Other contributions
In addition to the side event, IMPACT partners were also involved in other parts of the conference: SINTEF Energy Research and Yavin Four Consultants (Y4C) both authored posters that were displayed throughout the conference, and Y4C Founder and Principal Engineer Joao Cruz chaired a session on “Choosing the perfect site”.
