During the inaugural Asian Wave and Tidal energy Conference on Jeju Island, South Korea, EMEC’s commercial director Richard Morris announced that a memorandum of understanding was already in place between EMEC
The European Marine Energy Center Ltd. – the world’s first and only accredited wave and tidal test center – will be developing a marine energy test center for Taiwan.
During the inaugural Asian Wave and Tidal energy Conference on Jeju Island, South Korea, EMEC’s commercial director Richard Morris announced that a memorandum of understanding was already in place between EMEC and the National Taiwan Ocean University, along with Taiwan’s Industrial Technology Research Institute and Orkney-based consultancy company Aquatera.
The two Taiwanese institutes will use EMEC’s expertise in the development of wave and tidal testing facilities to develop their own facilities to test devices in real sea conditions. It is hoped that this will give the marine renewable sector in Taiwan a boost.
Currently the Industrial Technology Research Institute is developing a point absorber wave energy converter which has been tested near the National Taiwan Ocean University. The latter is located in the northeast corner of Taiwan, an area which hosts the country’s most abundant wave energy resources as well as strong tidal currents.
“Taiwan has set a marine energy power generation target at 2025 to reach 200 MW and really needs a marine energy test site to serve local and international marine energy developer’s needs,” said Sheng-Chung Lo, manager of the Ocean Energy Technology Department at ITRI.
The memorandum of understanding follows on five years of preparatory work between Aquatera and ITRI, the two already having an agreement for a long-term project to develop the capacity for a wave energy industry in Taiwan.
“EMEC is very pleased to be supporting Taiwan in their move towards utilizing marine renewable energy. The building of a demonstration site to further the excellent work being done by ITRI and NTOU is part of the increasing amount of consulting work that EMEC is undertaking,” said Mr. Morris.
EMEC has signed similar agreements with the Ocean Energy Association of Japan, Ocean University of China and Incheon Metropolitan City in South Korea over the last year. – EcoSeed Staff
