Final Activity Report Summary - WAVETRAIN (Research Training Network Towards Competitive Ocean Wave Energy)
After more than 30 years of limited success, substantial progress over the last decade puts now ocean wave energy conversion on the step towards commercial scale implementation. It is expected that waves can complement the European renewable energy mix and contribute notably towards the Kyoto objectives. The long-term potential is estimated to be in the range of at least 2,000 Terawatt-hours per year world-wide, representing circa 10 % of the present global electricity demand.
To face the expected boom, industry requires well-trained engineering professionals with substantial understanding for the non-forgiving maritime environment and the necessity for low-cost solutions. WAVETRAIN contributed significantly towards closing the gap from existing education and training to wave energy engineers with international background. In the absence of existing educational paths for being a wave energy engineer, a consortium of several European universities, research and development (RD) entities and companies joined to offer network-wide courses, complementary to the adjacent engineering disciplines and integrated in well-defined applied research profiles. The group of recruited researchers rapidly grew together to a well collaborating European cluster covering most of the wave energy relevant aspects. The collaboration effort, funded under the Marie Curie actions in the Sixth Framework Programme from 2004 to 2008, notably reinforced Europes leading position in wave energy developments.
The partnership of WAVETRAIN research training network (RTN) arose from former collaboration within EC-funded RD projects and was an initiative of the Wave Energy Centre WavEC, in Portugal, which elaborated the proposal and managed the project. The latter was formally coordinated by the Instituto Superior Técnico, IST, in Portugal. Further partners were Teamwork Technology (TT) and Delft University (TUDelft) from the Netherlands, Spok ApS from Denmark, Queens University Belfast (QUB) and University of Edinburgh (UEdin) from the United Kingdom, École Centrale de Nantes (ECN) from France, University College Cork (UCC-HMRC) from Ireland, Instituto Nacional de Engenharia, Tecnologia e Inovação (INETI) from Portugal and Chalmers University (Chalmers) from Sweden.
The project consisted of a total of 383 researcher months, contracted from outside each host institution countries, as well as of a substantial amount of network-wide training events with some focus on real sea testing.
The project research, simultaneously delivering the substance of the hands-on training, was mainly accomplished by the contracted researchers themselves, with relatively limited intervention of the supervisors and other team members. The work program of the research project was organised in the following five separate tasks, in each of which a significant contribution to the state-of-the-art could be offered by the network:
1. pre-normative research
2. device modelling and design and new concepts
3. structure, components and power take off (PTO)
4. plant monitoring and evaluation, and
5. ecological and socio-economical impacts.
The primary objective of the Marie Curie RTN was the training and intra-European exchange of researchers and the improvement of networking capacities. Within WAVETRAIN, the latter could be mainly achieved by creating a cohesive and independent group of fellows that formed the basis of the collaborative effort. A major catalyst for the creation of this critical mass was the implementation of short courses on carefully chosen topics. These courses were generally very well received not only by the RTN members but also by members of the wider wave energy community. They further helped to establish topics on which study in the immediate future should be focussed. Apart from the short courses, the vehicle for networking was mainly the joint visit of a number of relevant international conferences and the recently created international network on offshore renewable energy (INORE group).
To face the expected boom, industry requires well-trained engineering professionals with substantial understanding for the non-forgiving maritime environment and the necessity for low-cost solutions. WAVETRAIN contributed significantly towards closing the gap from existing education and training to wave energy engineers with international background. In the absence of existing educational paths for being a wave energy engineer, a consortium of several European universities, research and development (RD) entities and companies joined to offer network-wide courses, complementary to the adjacent engineering disciplines and integrated in well-defined applied research profiles. The group of recruited researchers rapidly grew together to a well collaborating European cluster covering most of the wave energy relevant aspects. The collaboration effort, funded under the Marie Curie actions in the Sixth Framework Programme from 2004 to 2008, notably reinforced Europes leading position in wave energy developments.
The partnership of WAVETRAIN research training network (RTN) arose from former collaboration within EC-funded RD projects and was an initiative of the Wave Energy Centre WavEC, in Portugal, which elaborated the proposal and managed the project. The latter was formally coordinated by the Instituto Superior Técnico, IST, in Portugal. Further partners were Teamwork Technology (TT) and Delft University (TUDelft) from the Netherlands, Spok ApS from Denmark, Queens University Belfast (QUB) and University of Edinburgh (UEdin) from the United Kingdom, École Centrale de Nantes (ECN) from France, University College Cork (UCC-HMRC) from Ireland, Instituto Nacional de Engenharia, Tecnologia e Inovação (INETI) from Portugal and Chalmers University (Chalmers) from Sweden.
The project consisted of a total of 383 researcher months, contracted from outside each host institution countries, as well as of a substantial amount of network-wide training events with some focus on real sea testing.
The project research, simultaneously delivering the substance of the hands-on training, was mainly accomplished by the contracted researchers themselves, with relatively limited intervention of the supervisors and other team members. The work program of the research project was organised in the following five separate tasks, in each of which a significant contribution to the state-of-the-art could be offered by the network:
1. pre-normative research
2. device modelling and design and new concepts
3. structure, components and power take off (PTO)
4. plant monitoring and evaluation, and
5. ecological and socio-economical impacts.
The primary objective of the Marie Curie RTN was the training and intra-European exchange of researchers and the improvement of networking capacities. Within WAVETRAIN, the latter could be mainly achieved by creating a cohesive and independent group of fellows that formed the basis of the collaborative effort. A major catalyst for the creation of this critical mass was the implementation of short courses on carefully chosen topics. These courses were generally very well received not only by the RTN members but also by members of the wider wave energy community. They further helped to establish topics on which study in the immediate future should be focussed. Apart from the short courses, the vehicle for networking was mainly the joint visit of a number of relevant international conferences and the recently created international network on offshore renewable energy (INORE group).