Weak competitiveness in ocean energy is a warning sign for Europe’s global cleantech ambitions

Europe’s industrial leadership in ocean energy is increasingly at risk, according to statistics recently released by Ocean Energy Europe.

Despite the EU’s ambitious expansion goals, fewer projects will hit European waters in 2022 than in any year since 2010. Meanwhile, global competitors such as the United States and China are rapidly catching up.

If the EU is determined to lead in this new era of global cleantech competition, it cannot let its leading position slip away. How the bloc responds to this test of its leadership in wave and tidal energy will be a lesson for its broader industrial vision of the Green Deal.

Focus on global leadership

Early in 2020, the EU Offshore Renewable Energy Strategy focused on global leadership in wave and tidal energy and set ambitious targets for its deployment. But two years later, both tidal and wave energy additions in Europe are at a decade low, outpacing increased activity in the rest of the world.

Tidal Stream 2022 installations in Europe have been limited to small projects and dwarfed by a large-scale state-funded Chinese apparatus. In wave power, last year was the fifth year in a row that the rest of the world installed more capacity than Europe. Europe still leads, but narrowly, in terms of cumulative wave capacity.

China pours government money

The driving forces behind this new dynamic are clear – public funding and political support. The United States is now committing about $110 million to ocean energy annually and is building the largest wave energy test site in the world. China continues to pour government funds into major projects. And both the UK and Canada offer dedicated revenue support, among a host of other measures.

But it’s not too late – the industrial Green Deal scheme could enable the European Commission to quickly restore Europe’s leadership in marine energy.

Source: Ocean Energy Europe.