DHI Develops Strategic Initiatives for Ocean Energy Data Portal

Proper resource mapping is vital for identifying current barriers to the deployment and commercialisation of wave and tidal energy technology. To assist with this, DHI has worked with several partners to develop the Strategic Initiatives for Ocean Energy (SI OCEAN) Data Portal – a GIS-based web client that uses DHI’s MIKE CUSTOMISED platform.

Funded by the European Union (EU)’s Intelligent Energy Europe programme, the SI OCEAN Data Portal will enable the European ocean renewable industry to better evaluate the potential of wave and tidal energy production.

There is little space in the ocean not already claimed (by shipping routes, fishing grounds, offshore activities and so forth) that is also suitable for present wave and tidal energy extraction technologies. An important building block in identifying where energy is available close to the coast with no or few constraints is resource mapping.

In collaboration with several partners, DHI has developed a GIS-based web client – the Strategic Initiatives for Ocean Energy (SI OCEAN) Data Portal – to aid in this. The SI OCEAN Data Portal allows anyone to view a collection of data in order to determine suitable locations for arrays of devices, such as wave energy converters. The data portal also has several tools – available to users with a login and password – for data evaluation.

The data currently covers Europe’s North Atlantic Ocean, including Denmark, France, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom. However, the flexibility of the portal allows additional and enhanced data sources to be added by users.

Press release, Image: DHI