From 9-12 May 2023, the third edition of the Erasmus Short Study Tour in the Orkney Islands took place, an archipelago in Scotland. The participants, that came from seven different countries, namely, Greece, Croatia, Turkey, Portugal, and Spain, were hosted by the European Marine Energy Centre Ltd (EMEC), the world’s leading test facility for wave and tidal energy converters and coordinated and supported by our partners from R2M Solution, who was also present during the four days of this incredible experience.
ABOUT THE PROGRAMME
Marine renewable energy and green hydrogen were the main themes covered at the NESOI SST3. The presentation of NESOI best practices and legal frameworks, the development of forums with other project developers, the discussion with important local stakeholders during site visits, and the NESOI Facilitating web platform, which was just recently officially launched, were given special attention.
The agenda for each day:
Objectives of Day 2:
- Learn about The Orkney Islands’ energy landscape and activities (H2 and MRE).
- Island decarbonisation, learn from projects across the EU.
- Knowledge sharing about Marine Renewable Energy projects.
- Discover EMEC facilities at Stromness.
Objectives of Day 3:
- Electrolyser and tidal test site visit
- Hydrogen and clean vessels, understand stakeholders’ views.
- Knowledge sharing about Hydrogen projects on islands.
Objectives of Day 4:
- Discover NESOI platform opportunities.
- European networking, knowledge sharing
- Social activity hike
MORE THAN A KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE
The idea of the study tour started by the need of fostering knowledge exchange related to energy transition topics among the islands that, due to their special geographical situation, can be particularly difficult. NESOI strives for trying to help to overcome these challenges by stimulating staff exchange, encouraging the best practices among islands, and supporting potential replications of NESOI methodology.
Participants in the study tour saw the inventive work being done throughout the Orkney Islands to capture the available energy sources and heard from some of the local organisations spearheading low-carbon efforts. The attendees had the opportunity to see EMEC's test and demonstration facilities after listening to numerous fascinating presentations, including the grid-connected wave test site Billia Croo, which is situated on the west coast of the Orkney mainland.
They additionally visited the island of Eday as part of the tour, where they learned more about the onshore facilities and how hydrogen is created from tidal and wind energy before being stored there. Earlier, they had visited EMEC's Caldale plant.
Furthermore, the return boat voyage provided the chance to travel by the grid-connected tidal test site Fall of Warness, which is located off the coast of Eday and is being used by tidal developers for testing.