Fifteen publicly-funded ocean energy farms, with a total capacity of 165 MW, are scheduled for deployment over the next five years, according to a recent report from Ocean Energy Europe.
The report highlights that in 2024, 1.418 kW of new tidal stream capacity was deployed via three newly installed devices in the Faroe Islands, Ameland in the Netherlands, and at Strangford Lough, Northern Ireland. Two of these devices were tidal 'kites'.
Two full-scale wave energy devices, totalling 130 kW, were also deployed last year, one at Aberdeen and another in the Canary Islands.
Outside Europe, there were no tidal device deployments in 2024. However, for the first time since 2015, cumulative deployments of wave energy devices in the rest of the world overtook those in Europe, mainly as a result of deployments in the US and Australia.
Looking forward, the report illustrates locations for upcoming wave and tidal stream projects (see below). For the UK, these are centered around sites in Wales and Scotland, in particular at Morlais in Anglesey and at EMEC and Meygen.
Image Source: Ocean Energy Europe
As previously noted, the majority of the companies shown above have already taken steps to protect their devices using patents and registered designs, or a combination of the two. As deployments ramp up over the next few years, and wave and tidal stream devices transition from test site to commercial deployment, innovators in the ocean energy landscape will no doubt take further steps to protect their valuable intellectual property, particularly as private investment - which totalled €60m over the past two years - increases.
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