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This document was developed within the framework of the MATES project, Maritime Alliance for Fostering the European Blue Economy through a Marine Technology Skilling Strategy. The objective of the project is to develop a skills strategy that addresses the main drivers of change to the maritime industry, in particular Shipbuilding and Offshore Renewable Energy. Both sectors are strongly linked and require new capacities to succeed in an increasingly digital, green and knowledgedriven economy. Project duration: 2018 – 2022 projectmates.eu This Legacy Brochure and Strategy Plan describes the main outputs from the MATES project. These outputs are a result of the successful initiatives carried out by the MATES partnership to help address the mismatch between skills demand (market needs) and skills provision (training offer) in the Shipbuilding and Offshore Renewable Energy sectors. MATES achievements are highlighted as best practices in this brochure and priorities for the future are outlined as part of a Strategic Plan., Co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union. The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

This document presents the metocean design basis of offshore test site «SEM-REV» operated by Centrale Nantes and dedicated to the test of floating wind turbines and wave energy converters. It is released in order to provide data for offshore operations and engineering in the French offshore area of South Brittany and Pays la Loire regions. It presents a metocean analysis, based on a Measure-Correlate-Predict approach in a consolidated report which provides simultaneously design data for wind, waves, current, tides and marine growth on a French site. In particular, it uses data issued from more than 10 years of continuous campaigns performed since the creation of SEM-REV test site since 2009: 2 years of wind measurements, 10 years of wave measurements and 19 ADCP campaigns for current measurement. The provided design data are operational statistics and long-term statistics such as values for return periods of 1, 5, 10, 25, 50 and 100 years and for various directional sectors. Additional information are also provided such as turbulence intensity, extreme direction change for wind. Scatter diagram, monthly distribution, beaking wave criteria… are provided for waves. Harmonic analysis of tidal measurements enable to hindcast and forecast water elevation on site. Deeper analysis of current on the water column is also provided. Marine growth thickness is evaluated on various components such as chains, nylon and dynamic cable. Additionally, other environmental conditions such as air density, normal and extreme air and sea temperature ranges are presented. This report was appraised by Bureau Veritas Marine and Offshore which «certifi[es] that the metocean condition of the SEM-REV Test Site has been appraised according to the following international standards: IEC 61400-1:2019 Wind turbines – Part1: Design requirements IEC 61400-3-1:2019 Design requirements for fixed offshore wind turbines IEC 61400-3-2:2019 Design requirements for floating offshore wind turbines [...] The metocean design basis of SEM-REV test site presented, and the associated Measure-Correlate-Predict based method has been found in compliance with the above standards[…] &raquo

The UK has set plans to increase offshore wind capacity from 22GW to 154GW by 2030. With such tremendous growth, the sector is now looking to Robotics and Artificial Intelligence (RAI) in order to tackle lifecycle service barriers as to support sustainable and profitable offshore wind energy production. Today, RAI applications are predominately being used to support short term objectives in operation and maintenance. However, moving forward, RAI has the potential to play a critical role throughout the full lifecycle of offshore wind infrastructure, from surveying, planning, design, logistics, operational support, training and decommissioning. This paper presents one of the first systematic reviews of RAI for the offshore renewable energy sector. The state-of-the-art in RAI is analyzed with respect to offshore energy requirements, from both industry and academia, in terms of current and future requirements. Our review also includes a detailed evaluation of investment, regulation and skills development required to support the adoption of RAI. The key trends identified through a detailed analysis of patent and academic publication databases provide insights to barriers such as certification of autonomous platforms for safety compliance and reliability, the need for digital architectures for scalability in autonomous fleets, adaptive mission planning for resilient resident operations and optimization of human machine interaction for trusted partnerships between people and autonomous assistants. Our study concludes with identification of technological priorities and outlines their integration into a new ‘symbiotic digital architecture’ to deliver the future of offshore wind farm lifecycle management.

[EN]In this work the phenomenon of the wave reflection has been studied using a self-developed passive extinction system. Twenty one type of waves were generated in the laboratory using a piston-type wave maker. The variation of the reflection coefficient, Kr, was studied at several depths (h [m] of 0.3, 0.4, and 0.5), periods (0.636 < T [s] < 1.526), wave heights (0.010 < H [m] < 0.064), slopes (3 < α [°] < 17) and vertical end positions of the extinction system (y1 [m] and y2 [m] defined by y1 [m] and α [°]), covering the linear and non-linear regions of the “Le Méhauté” chart. In parallel, an unsteady numerical model based on the Eulerian multiphase VOF was designed and validated according to the free surface displacement, ɳi, and the calculation of the Kr values. Both type of validations were successful so this model was used in order to determine Kr values at slopes [°] that could not be physically reached by the extinction system. The obtained results allowed to determine the minimum Kr values for each set of experiments and finding a useful non-dimensional relationship of Kr,(h-y1)/λ and Ir as a function of the dispersion parameter, kh. The authors would like also to express their gratitude for the support provided by the Research Groups of the UPV/EHU (GIU19/029) and the Basque Government (IT1314-19) , as well as the support provided by the Joint Research Laboratory on Offshore Renewable Energy (JRL-ORE) and the Open Access funding provided by University of Basque Country.

Technologies for harvesting offshore renewable energy based on floating platforms, such as offshore wind, wave and tidal energies, are currently being developed with the purpose of achieving a competitive cost of energy. The economic impact of the mooring system is significant within the total cost of such deployments, and large efforts are being carried out to optimize designs. Analysis of mooring systems at early stages generally require a trade-off between quick analysis methods and accuracy to carry out multi-variate sensitivity analyses. Even though the most accurate approaches are based on the non-linear finite element method in the time domain, these can result in being very time consuming. The most widely used numerical approaches for mooring line load estimates are introduced and discussed in this paper. It is verified that accurate line tension estimates require lines drag and inertia forces to be accounted for. A mooring and floating structure coupled model based on the lumped mass finite element approach is also discussed, and it is confirmed that the differences found in the coupled numerical model are mainly produced by the uncertainty on hydrodynamic force estimates on the floating structure rather than by the lumped mass method. In order to enable quick line tension estimates, a linearization of the structure and mooring coupled model is discussed. It shows accurate results in operational conditions and enables modal analysis of the coupled system. This work was funded by Project IT949-16 (Departamento de Educación, Política Lingüística y Cultura, Regional). Government of the Basque Country.

Due to their low-noise installation and relatively large axial capacity, screw piles have been proposed as an alternative foundation solution in dense sand for offshore renewable energy applications in deeper water. For this to occur, significant upscaling of onshore dimensions is required. Furthermore, the effects of certain geometric features on installation requirements are still not well understood. In this work, using the three-dimensional discrete-element method, the effects of base geometry, shaft diameter and helix pitch were investigated by simulating the full installation process prior to conducting axial compression and tension tests. The results of the investigation showed it is possible to optimise the geometry of the screw pile to reduce installation requirements, in terms of both vertical installation force (up to 61%) and installation torque (up to 39%), without reducing the axial capacity of the pile significantly.

This paper introduces metrics developed for analysing irregular wave test results from the round robin testing campaign carried out on a floating wind turbine as part of the EU H2020 MaRINET2 project. A 1/60th scale model of a 10 MW floating platform was tested in wave basins in four different locations around Europe. The tests carried out in each facility included decay tests, tests in regular and irregular waves with and without wind thrust, and tests to characterise the mooring system as well as the model itself. While response amplitude operations (RAOs) are a useful tool for assessing device performance in irregular waves, they are not easy to interpret when performing an inter-facility comparison where there are many variables. Metrics that use a single value per test condition rather than an RAO curve are a means of efficiently comparing tests from different basins in a more heuristic manner. In this research, the focus is on using metrics to assess how the platform responds with varying wave height and thrust across different facilities. It is found that the metrics implemented are very useful for extracting global trends across different basins and test conditions.

Remotely Operated underwater Vehicles (ROVs) are growing in importance in the ocean environment for observation and manipulation tasks, particularly when used to maintain offshore energy and offshore renewable energy assets. Many such tasks require the dynamic positioning of ROV in challenging sea conditions with multiple disturbances resulting from the effects of waves, currents and turbulence. This work presents a novel, nonlinear, model predictive dynamic positioning controller that accounts for such complex stochastic disturbances. These external disturbances are modelled as 6-degree of freedom forces and moments within the nonlinear ROV dynamic and propulsion model. A nonlinear model predictive dynamic positioning strategy based on the nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) is proposed for the disturbance rejection in this work. A numerical water tank model is used to test the performance of the strategy using hardware in-the-loop simulation. The results of the simulation have been compared against baseline proportional-integral-derivative (PID) and linear quadratic regulator (LQR) controllers tested under wave and current conditions in the FloWave basin. A quantitative comparison of the controllers is presented. The resulting controller is shown to maintain a small root mean squared error (RMSE) in position when subjected to multiple directional disturbance, with minimal control effort. This study contributes an important insight on future theoretical design of model predictive disturbance rejection controllers and illustrates their practical implementation on real hardware.

Wind, wave and tidal energy are widely regarded as being the ‘good guys’ in energy production for their carbon neutral qualities. However, lurking in the shadow of this good reputation is the uncertainty about the impacts that this new technology will have on the marine environment. It could cause a potential conflict between carbon-neutral energy production and the protection of habitats, and the prevention of biodiversity loss. This article presents empirical data collected from three case studies in England and Scotland. This research indicates that the disjointed nature of the consenting processes for offshore renewables does not encourage full assessment of the cumulative impacts of offshore renewable developments as required by European Union environmental impact assessment legislation. The article identifies elements of the consenting processes, which fail to provide a full assessment of cumulative and in-combination impacts, and recommends changes to these processes in England and Scotland.

This paper presents an updated understanding of the Nigerian Atlantic waters in terms of the offshore characteristic and the potentials that these characteristics provide for the people of the nation and the continent at large. The wind, wave, swell and current data studied were provided by Shell Nigeria for some periods between1979 and 1983.General characteristic consideration of wind, wave, swell and current is made for the Nigerian Atlantic waters and in particular Bonny Offshore, Forcadoes Offshore, Asabo Offshore and Bonga Offshore. Inference from the results in terms of use of the Atlantic for renewable energy sources and marine food production based on a proposed offshore technology is described. It is noted that the Nigerian Atlantic is relatively mild and benign with low average velocity of 0.3 m/s running at about 3 meters above ocean bottom. This paper further discusses efforts made to reinvent the use of vertical axis turbine for use in such low underwater current velocities of 0.3 m/s which is perhaps the least flow velocity of ocean water in the world.

Scotland is being transformed as renewable energy resources are being exploited through new developments and infrastructure as part of an energy transition. Scotland has a significant amount of potential onshore and offshore renewable energy available for capture largely located in rural and remote regions. This paper extends the ‘transition-periphery’ approach developed by Murphy and Smith (2013) and applies it to a set of case study sites in Scotland. This empirical analysis highlights the geographical dynamics being created by the renewable energy transition in Scotland. The results suggest that complex transition-periphery dynamics are being created by renewable energy development in Scotland in which infrastructure, ownership, and scale have particularly important roles in shaping the transition. This study highlights the need for further research that focuses on resource peripheries in sociotechnical transitions.

In order to address the intermittency of offshore renewable energy sources, a novel form of compressed air energy storage integrated within a tension leg platform is proposed. The energy storage concept involves a hydro-pneumatic accumulator. The objective of this study was to investigate the variation in the physical and hydrodynamic characteristics of a hypothetical full-scale prototype of the proposed system. The design was developed so as to analyse the effect on said characteristics of the tension leg platform diameter and the inner diameter of the umbilical connecting the floating and seabed-mounted compressed air chambers. Results indicate that better hydrodynamic behaviour was observed for smaller diameter tension leg platforms, whereby the resulting motion became more restrained. Moreover, the dynamic characteristics were observed to indicate marginal improvement for increasing inner diameters of the pneumatic umbilical.

The search for suitable marine areas is a prerequisite at an early stage of any offshore renewable energy system project. This paper introduces a methodological framework for identifying th...

This work focuses on the development of a deterministic dynamic risk method that can be used by operational end-users such as seafarers, when navigating in restricted waters where there is spatial conflict due to multi-use of marine areas by the shipping and offshore renewable energy industries. The developed method can also be used during the planning stages of offshore renewable energy installations. A case study of vessel operations near an offshore wind farm is also presented. The article also briefly discusses the potential application of manoeuvring-based dynamic risk methods to resolve spatial conflicts in the maritime, as well as other transport domains.

Floating offshore wind is rapidly gaining traction in deep water locations. As with all new technologies, to gain the confidence of developers and investors, the technical and economic feasibility of this technology must be proven and robust cost estimates are necessary. In this paper, the authors present a methodology to calculate the capital and operational indicators of a floating wind farm over its project lifetime. A set of computational models is used to reduce the uncertainties in the estimation of the technical and economical parameters. In particular, the effect of using detailed operation and maintenance models and strategies allows a better estimation of operational cost. The paper highlights the requirements and specific adjustments considered for floating offshore wind technology. The methodology is demonstrated for two case studies inspired by real floating wind installations in the United Kingdom, namely the Hywind and Kincardine projects. The related input data, gathered from publicly available sources, constitute a reference database for future studies in the floating offshore wind sector. Results are presented for the two case studies. These show that availability and energy production are in line with typical values for offshore wind projects, and highlight the substantial contribution of operational expenses to the cost of energy. Results are also compared against previous estimations for floating offshore wind projects, showing satisfactory agreement for the overall project costs but an underestimation of operation and maintenance costs in previous studies. This highlights the importance of using detailed operation and maintenance models to adequately capture operational expenses. &nbsp

Project Deliverable (Policy Brief)

The transition to low-carbon energy systems is a complex process that implies radical technological changes, greenhouse gas emission reductions, and benefits to the local economies yet, also significant investment, a need for capacity building, strengthening supply chains and supporting legal frameworks. Consequently, the choice of renewable energy technologies should be based on a comprehensive assessment addressing the different dimensions that are affected. Clean energy technologies are traditionally evaluated on the basis of their techno-economic performance. Such an approach penalises emerging energy technologies that are generally more capital-intensive given their innovation requirement and the lack of support mechanisms facilitating their industrial roll-out. In this paper, a multi-criteria evaluation framework is proposed encompassing three important broad dimensions: techno-economics, environment and socio-economics. The applicability and flexibility of the proposed evaluation framework are demonstrated on different case studies. First, the hypothetical deployment of a floating offshore wind farm both in Scotland and Portugal is evaluated. Later, the proposed framework is used to evaluate the deployments of wave energy devices in the same two locations. The results show that this multi-criteria approach provides a more holistic overview of the performance and implications of renewable energy technologies, particularly emerging ones, and can better support decision- and policy-making in the medium- and long-term. Furthermore, the framework can be used by researchers, investors, developers and/or analysts to assess energy planning alternatives.

In the field of offshore renewable energy, impermeable plates are used as underwater lenses to amplify the wave amplitude, and perforated plates can harness wave energy as a power takeoff device. Within the framework of the linear potential-flow theory, the water wave scattering by impermeable and perforated horizontal plates is investigated in the present study, and both circular and elliptical plates are considered. The hypersingular integral equation is constructed to model the interaction between water waves and plates of small thickness. For wave scattering by impermeable plates with the focus on wave amplification, wave interference effects due to multiple plates can be utilized to achieve large wave amplification. For perforated plates used for harnessing wave energy, deploying an array of elliptical plates is promising if the deployment line coincides with the major axis and the incident wave propagates along the minor axis. The study gives insight into harnessing energy from water waves by horizontal plates.

The objective of theMATES Baseline Report on Present Skill Gapsis to deliver a critical review and analysis of the skills supply and demand mismatch in Europe for the two sectors addressed i.e. shipbuilding and offshore renewable energy. The report is the result of extensive desktop research, industry engagement through regional workshops, a validation workshop, surveys, expert interviews, Focus Group meetings and builds upon theMATES State of the Art Report (D1.2). Access the Full Baseline Report. TheMATES Baseline Report on Present Skill Gaps: (a) provides an overview of the current status of the targeted sectors, focusing on aspects that can be mostly affected by skills gaps (e.g. current technological trends, economic growth, sector’s potential for further development, etc.) (b) specifies and describes the phases/segments of the sectors’ value chains (c) maps the existing occupational profiles that are involved in the main sectors’ activities and their corresponding skills and competences, based onEuropean Skills/Competences, Qualifications and Occupations (ESCO) classification (d) examines skills supply by identifying educational and training offers for the academic year of 2018-2019 relevant to these sectors and assessing their curricula and the qualifications they provide (e) investigates skills demand through consultation with the aforementioned industries (i.e. companies, industry associations, industry experts, etc.) (f) identifies skills gaps of the sectors’ workforce and skills mismatch between education and training providers and the industries’ relevant requirements The report provides a solid foundation upon which futureMATESactivities are based; the building of future scenarios for forecasting skills requirements in the short, medium and long-term as well as the development of relevant Lines of Actions and best practices for effectively addressing these skills gaps through theMATES Pilot Experiences.

The objective of theMATES Baseline Report on Present Skill Gapsis to deliver a critical review and analysis of the skills supply and demand mismatch in Europe for the two sectors addressed i.e. shipbuilding and offshore renewable energy. The report is the result of extensive desktop research, industry engagement through regional workshops, a validation workshop, surveys, expert interviews, Focus Group meetings and builds upon theMATES State of the Art Report (D1.2). Access the Baseline Executive Report. TheMATES Baseline Report on Present Skill Gaps: (a) provides an overview of the current status of the targeted sectors, focusing on aspects that can be mostly affected by skills gaps (e.g. current technological trends, economic growth, sector’s potential for further development, etc.) (b) specifies and describes the phases/segments of the sectors’ value chains (c) maps the existing occupational profiles that are involved in the main sectors’ activities and their corresponding skills and competences, based onEuropean Skills/Competences, Qualifications and Occupations (ESCO) classification (d) examines skills supply by identifying educational and training offers for the academic year of 2018-2019 relevant to these sectors and assessing their curricula and the qualifications they provide (e) investigates skills demand through consultation with the aforementioned industries (i.e. companies, industry associations, industry experts, etc.) (f) identifies skills gaps of the sectors’ workforce and skills mismatch between education and training providers and the industries’ relevant requirements The report provides a solid foundation upon which futureMATESactivities are based; the building of future scenarios for forecasting skills requirements in the short, medium and long-term as well as the development of relevant Lines of Actions and best practices for effectively addressing these skills gaps through theMATES Pilot Experiences.

Offshore renewable energy has been developed as an important source of clean energy for achieving sustainable development and tackling climate change. Whilst the generation of energy from the water, current and wind is mentioned in the Law of the Sea (LOS) Convention, this technology was in its infancy at the time when the Convention was drafted and therefore various challenges arising from offshore renewable energy activities were not foreseen. This thesis examines the manner in which and the extent to which the LOS Convention reinforces the regulation of offshore renewable energy activities. In doing so, it considers the relationship between the LOS Convention and subsequent instruments addressing offshore renewable energy activities with a view to determining the ways in which the LOS Convention is able to respond to the emergence of new uses of the marine environment. The development of the law of the sea is a process of compromise between the rights of the coastal States in relation to their maritime zones on the one hand and the interests of other States in the lawful uses of the oceans on the other hand. Whilst the LOS Convention was adopted in order to establish a stable legal framework governing all uses of the oceans, the Convention provides a certain degree of flexibility to accommodate new developments in the oceans. Legal mechanisms, including rules of reference, regional rules, treaty interpretation and soft law, can be used to elaborate the regulation of offshore renewable energy activities while maintaining the balance of interests between the coastal State and other States. The thesis explores the different issues raised by the regulation of offshore renewable energy activities, including environmental impact assessment, environmental regulation from operations, safety of navigation, and decommissioning. Each chapter highlights different mechanisms to elaborate on relevant provisions of the LOS Convention. In addition, the last chapter of the thesis discusses marine spatial planning as a policy tool for integrated oceans management to deal with the issues arising from offshore renewable energy activities in a comprehensive manner. The thesis indicates that the LOS Convention is a living instrument, which evolves to adapt to new challenges arising from offshore renewable energy activities through different legal mechanisms. The LOS Convention provides an adequate legal framework to interact, incorporate and supplement with other legal instruments in the regulation of offshore renewable energy activities.

One of the challenges in designing an Ocean Compressed Air Energy Storage (OCAES) system is achieving efficient compression and expansion of air. The rise of temperature during air compression results in significant loss of energy which leads to low storage efficiency. In this study, temperature abatement in liquid piston compressor using spray injection and metal wire mesh are investigated experimentally to improve storage efficiency. Water spray at different injection pressures and metal wire mesh of different surface areas and volumes were tested for heat dissipation inside the compression chamber. Results indicated that the water spray injection is useful to reduce the final temperature from 334 K to as low as 297 K for compression of air from atmospheric pressure to about 250 KPa when the injection pressure is 60 psi. For the more effective metal wire mesh among the inserts tested in this study, temperature abatement to a final temperature of 308K was observed. Compared to wire mesh inserts alone, the simultaneous use of the inserts and spray injection resulted in enhanced temperature abatement. Compared with spray injection method alone, temperature abatement improvement was observed when inserts of sparse density were used along with spray injection. Although wire mesh inserts distract the contact of water droplets with hot air, the simultaneous use of the two methods resulted in an increased effective surface area because the surface area added by the inserts is larger than the surface area lost by the droplets coming to contact with the inserts. When inserts with more compacted structures are used, the temperature abatement was less than the spray injection alone. This seems to suggest that the contact surface lost by the droplets is more significant than the extra surface area added by the inserts. Since the geometries of mesh inserts used in this study are different from each other, temperature increase patterns at certain pressure levels are compared. Clearly, spray injection improves compression efficiency to 95% from the base 80% efficiency of liquid piston compressor. This work uniquely highlights the further development of efficient air compression using spray injection and metal wire mesh.

With modern power utilities going green by utilising renewable energy technologies and the development of the smart power grid, high-voltage direct current (HVDC) technologies become more and more important in the energy transmission. In particular, HVDC cable systems play a prominent role in undersea power transmission and offshore renewable energy integration. As an essential part of a complete HVDC cable system, the cable termination is one of the most critical components. The mathematical and physical background of HVDC cable systems is discussed and the development of various types of HVDC cable terminations is reviewed. Regarding the non-uniform field distribution, the influence of temperature on the non-linear conductivity is briefly discussed. Furthermore, faults of terminations caused by inappropriate installation and testing of cable systems are discussed.