Developers of offshore energy technologies are being invited to apply for free access to test facilities in Europe.

The MaRINET2 (Marine Renewables Infrastructure Network) project is open to developers of offshore wind, wave and tidal energy at full system, subsystem, component and sensor level.

The programme is a network of 39 partners in 13 European countries, involving research centres and organisations that work together to progress offshore renewable energy technologies.

Successful applicants will be able to access the test facilities, including the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Scotland, for free between 18th January and 17th July 2021.

MaRINET2 has awarded almost €5 million (£4.4m) in free testing access across a European network of 57 research facilities so far, with the aim of accelerating the progress of the offshore renewables sector towards full-scale industrialisation.

Danielle Moodie, Project Manager at EMEC said: “As a world-leading test site in marine energy testing, EMEC experiences a range of wave and tidal conditions across our sites in Orkney, suitable for testing a variety of offshore technologies. With flexible test infrastructure, we are seeing increasing interest from floating offshore wind and supply chain companies looking to put foundations, components and data acquisition technologies to the test as well.

“MaRINET2 is a good opportunity to reduce the cost of open-water testing for energy generators or subsystems so in this last call for applications, we are looking to encourage applications from across the offshore renewables market.”

The call closes on 16th October 2020.