Twelve French and English partners of the European project Channel Marine Offshore Renewables (MOR) will present the results of their work at the project’s final conference on 29 January in Norwich.
Channel MOR is a cluster set up to encourage small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Channel Area to expand into marine renewable energy (MRE) and support businesses already engaging with this sector.
This one year project, running from January 2014 to January 2015, has been delivered by 12 French and English partners and fully financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF – Interreg IV A).
For businesses wishing to grow in the UK and French marine renewable energy markets of wind, wave and tide, Channel MOR provides market intelligence to help assess the industry’s attractiveness, identify supply chain gaps, find collaborators and highlight business opportunities.
The conference will see the launch of a web portal which will give businesses access to comprehensive data sets on the Channel area’s marine renewables sector (courses, installations and businesses involved in the MRE value chain).
Businesses will also find on the platform a range of decision support tools for entering the sector. These include: skills analysis within the MRE lifecycle, analysis of the regulatory environment, an update on the present state of the MRE marketplace, a map of MRE opportunities in the Channel Area, a map of the regions that are best suited to specific energy types, and a self-assessment guide for logistics performance of SMEs.
The final conference on 29 January will bring together all the project’s partners in Norwich. It will be the opportunity to deliver a summary document covering the whole of the Channel MOR project and its achievements. The event will also debate the direction to take in the coming years in order to grow and organise the MRE sector in the Channel Area.
Press release; Image: SgurrEnergy (Illustration)