The European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) has furthered its ties with Japan having signed a contract to provide advice on the development of a marine energy test facility in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan.
EMEC will advise on the infrastructure needed to develop a test site, from subsea cables, and grid connection to resource data instrumentation, as well as the wider infrastructure required in the region to support marine energy deployments.
A review of the marine renewables industry will also be undertaken, alongside support in business planning, operational procedures, and health and safety.
The announcement follows EMEC's membership of the Nagasaki Marine Industry Cluster Promotion Association(NaMICPA) earlier in the year, in an effort to help support development of marine renewables in Japan and stimulate further collaboration between the two countries.
"Having planned, developed and operated 18 real sea test berths of its own in Orkney, 14 of which are grid-connected, EMEC has overcome many obstacles, and has accumulated a great deal of learning about the do's and don'ts of marine energy test site development," Oliver Wragg, Commercial Director at EMEC, said. "We're delighted to be working to help develop marine energy in Japan. Just as EMEC stimulated interest and investment for marine energy in the UK in 2003, a Japanese test centre has the potential to kick-start the sector in Japan. And that will benefit wave and tidal technologies currently in development as there will be a wider international market for them when they reach commercialisation."
