A new wave of projects has secured funding under the latest EU Mission Ocean and Waters calls. With a total budget of €116 million, the 13 projects selected will deliver a wide variety of benefits to restore ocean and waters in the EU and beyond, as well as help the communities that rely on them. The projects will be implemented across various sea basins, including the Black Sea, Danube River, Baltic and North Sea, Mediterranean Sea, and Atlantic and Arctic regions.
The projects focus on preserving offshore marine protected areas; protecting and restoring migratory fish habitats in the Danube area; reducing the environmental impact of fisheries on marine species and habitats; strengthening citizen science in the marine sector; mobilizing communities to act for our ocean and waters; ensuring an operational European Digital Twin of the Ocean–a digital representation of the ocean and its multiple components.
They include:
- SEAMPHONI: Uses advanced technology to monitor offshore marine biodiversity and engages the public through creative storytelling.
- DanubeLifelines: Restores pathways for fish in the Danube River, improving their natural migration routes.
- SWIM: Enhances fish habitats in the Danube and Black Sea by applying eco-friendly restoration methods.
- ECO-CATCH: Develops new fishing technologies to reduce unwanted bycatch and protect marine habitats.
- MarineGuardian: Devises tools to help fishers reduce environmental impacts and align with EU biodiversity goals.
- CS-MACH1: Connects citizen scientists to share marine data, boosting public involvement and research.
- INSPIRI: Combines science and art to inspire action for healthier EU waters in the future.
- BlueActionBANOS, BlueActionAA, SoS2LearnDBS, TASC-RestoreMed: Empower local communities across various sea basins—including the Baltic and North Seas, Atlantic and Arctic regions, Danube and Black Sea regions, and the Mediterranean—to implement effective restoration and conservation efforts.
- CO-WATERS: Empowers waterfront communities to lead the restoration of our ocean and waters.
- EDITO2: Builds on EDITO to improve the European Digital Twin Ocean with more advanced tools.
The investment is part of the Horizon Europe program, which aims to bring solutions to some of society’s greatest challenges. Launched in September 2021, the EU Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters aims to protect and restore the health of our ocean and waters by 2030 through research and innovation, citizen engagement and investments in the sustainable blue economy. The Mission addresses the ocean and waters as one interconnected system and plays a key role in achieving climate neutrality and restoring nature.
[…] EU’s Horizon Europe has awarded €19 million (USD $21 million) to Portugal’s Ondas de Peniche (ONDEP) project to deploy a 2 megawatt (MW) wave energy project array featuring four WaveRoller wave energy converters off the coast of Peniche. The ONDEP project will start in October 2024 and last 5.5 years, from design and manufacturing to testing, deployment, and operation. The pilot wave farm is expected to be installed and connected to the grid and to generate electricity for eight years after the project’s official end.“This project builds on two decades of hard work developing WaveRoller into a commercial asset,” said Christoper Ridgewell, CEO of AW Energy, the lead technology provider for ONDEP. “We’re excited to work on this collaboration together with the other partners to create a new industry in Europe.”ONDEP hopes to address the technical challenges of future large-scale wave farms, ensuring the technology’s reliability and scalability. The project also aims to establish a comprehensive, end-to-end European supply chain to support the deployment of GW-scale wave energy across Europe and beyond, marking a significant step towards the industrialization of wave energy.By 2030, ONDEP plans to unlock the potential for 11 wave energy farms across eight countries on four continents, with a total cumulative capacity of 83MW. By 2035, the project aims to demonstrate a Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) of less than 100€/MWh, paving the way for a sustainable blue economy. “Wave energy is the largest untapped renewable energy resource in the world. The ONDEP project is poised to be among the first pilot wave farms globally, advancing this new industry to an industrial level. It will pave the way towards a zero-carbon future,” commented Rémi Gruet, CEO of Ocean Energy Europe.Coordinated by Queen’s University Belfast, the project includes 14 partners from across Europe covering the entire wave energy value chain. […]
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