How should we shape the future of Wave Energy?
💭 Financing? Regulation? Technology maturity? Supply chains? Social acceptance?
When discussing the future of wave energy, there is rarely a shortage of questions. What is often missing is a space where different perspectives can come together to explore possible answers. That is precisely the role of the events for stakeholders in AWESDI.
Following the first Community Forums organised in Ireland and France in June, AWESDI has now held its first Community Forums in Spain, bringing together manufacturers, engineering companies, researchers and other stakeholders interested in the future of marine renewable energy.
These events are not conferences and they are not promotional sessions: they are designed to create dialogue between the people who develop technologies, the organisations that could deploy them, the authorities that regulate them and the communities that may ultimately live alongside them.
In Ireland, discussions focused on topics such as the current status of wave energy, barriers and uncertainties, conditions for pilot projects, governance and collaboration needs. Participants included wave energy developers, local authorities, government agencies, NGOs, energy cooperatives and coastal businesses.
In France, stakeholders reviewed the preliminary results of AWESDI’s policy and technology reviews, discussed regulatory barriers, funding mechanisms, marine spatial planning, test infrastructure needs and the maturity of wave energy technologies. The event also served as the launch platform for the first Open Innovation Workshop, held recently in Nantes, where developers and innovation actors came together to pitch solutions and identify future collaboration opportunities.
From stakeholder conversations to project knowledge
These discussions are closely connected to the technical work already being delivered by AWESDI. Researchers, developers and other stakeholders can already access the project’s first public output: a high-resolution database and Maps of Atlantic Area hotspots for marine energy. This output is supported by the public deliverable: Report on the High-Resolution Assessment of Wave Energy Potential in the Atlantic Area
Together, these resources provide a scientific basis for understanding marine energy potential across the Atlantic Area and help identify promising locations for future deployment under both present and future climate conditions. They also constitute one of the three components of the Toolkit for the Sustainable Design and Holistic Assessment of Wave Energy Deployment, which will be presented in 2027.
But data alone is not enough.
One of the objectives of the Community Forums is to complement scientific evidence with stakeholder experience and local knowledge. The insights, concerns, recommendations and opportunities identified through these exchanges will be progressively incorporated into the future Wave Energy Knowledge System, a resource currently under development that will bring together technologies, projects, studies, policies, regulations and the knowledge generated throughout AWESDI.
Join the conversation
Community Forums and Open Innovation Workshops will continue across the Atlantic Area over the coming months. Whether you are a developer, researcher, engineer, policymaker, innovation organisation, coastal stakeholder or part of the wider marine renewable energy ecosystem, your perspective can help shape the future of wave energy deployment.
We are also continuing to look for participants, experts and innovators interested in presenting their work and contributing to upcoming Open Innovation Workshops in Spain, Portugal and Ireland.
Because building the future of wave energy requires more than technology. It relies on evidence, dialogue and collaboration.