Project description
Portugal turns to offshore wind energy
Offshore wind energy is an emerging industrial sector in Portugal. Further development could support 25 % of the country’s annual electricity needs, boost exports, and increase employment in the sector. The Industrial Strategy for Ocean Renewable Energies (EI-ERO) approved recently by the government intends to develop Portugal’s offshore wind capabilities. The EU-funded TWIND project will create a network of specialised scientists and trainers in offshore renewable energy, which will provide support to the rising offshore wind industry of Portugal. The project will be conducted by the Portuguese WavEC in coordination with specialised partners in Spain, the Netherlands and UK.
Objective
The Portuguese Government has approved the Industrial Strategy for Ocean Renewable Energies (EI-ERO) with the aim of developing the country’s offshore wind potential. According to EI-ERO, offshore renewable energies have the potential to supply 25% of the electricity consumed annually in Portugal and create a new export chain in these new technologies. The government envisages that potential exports in this field could increase up to ten times the current employment in the active sectors, with the greatest potential for exports seen in the development of the floating wind technology.
The overall objective of TWIND is to create a network of excellence that will dynamize a pool of specialized research professionals and trainers in the domain of offshore wind energy to support an emerging industry in Portugal in a field with a very strong anticipated growth and no dedicated existing training curriculum.
WavEC will be the pivot research institution of the low performing Member State (Portugal) coordinating efforts with internationally-leading counterparts at the EU level (Spain, UK and The Netherlands) and enhancing its excellence and innovation capacity through the exchange of knowledge with these leading research organizations. The combining capabilities of partners will open the grounds to exploit existing research results and invest in developing more knowledge.
These objectives will be fulfilled through a set of strategic activities well-structured throughout the project including specific training programmes on thematic topics, short-term scientific meetings, long-term staff visits, networking meetings, attendance to relevant conferences in the field, knowledge transfer workshops with stakeholders and an annual event.
The networking activities and exchange of knowledge will stimulate research activities and highly qualified services that impact the economy and the society, thus benefitting not only WavEC and the partner organisations, but in general Portugal.
Fields of science
Keywords
Programme(s)
- H2020-EU.4.b. - Twinning of research institutions Main Programme
Topic(s)
Funding Scheme
CSA - Coordination and support actionCoordinator
1350-352 LISBOA
Portugal
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.