In July 2016, the Interreg 2 Seas Monitoring Committee gave the green light to the Met-Certified project, which stands for “Development of International Standards and Certification Schemes for Marine Energy Technologies”. Met-Certified aims to increase the adoption of insurable and therefore bankable marine energy projects through development of internationally recognized standards and certification schemes, and by testing and verifying technologies against IEC standards for marine energy convertors. “This project answers one of the main recommendations from the Ocean Energy Forum Strategic Roadmap.

From left to right: (1) SME’s Plat-O submerged platform for tidal turbines to be installed at EMEC, (2) the Eastern Scheldt Tidal power plant built by Tocardo, (3) EEL Energy being tested at IFREMER and (4) TTC offshore test site.
Certification can help to reduce perceived risks of technologies in terms of performance and structural integrity, and thus helps to attract debt financing and make export easier. At present no certification scheme for marine energy has been developed and implemented by all main stakeholders in a consistent way. An expectation is that it will come into existence over the next three years under the umbrella of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).
“The timing of Met-Certified is quite favorable,” says Peter Scheijgrond, project manager of the Met-Certified project. “With the funding we can actively involve stakeholders around certification, from banks and insurers to consenting authorities, end-users, test facilities and classification bureaus. We will start with verifying existing pilot projects against the IEC standards.
For example, the tidal power plant in the Eastern Scheldt Storm Surge barrier will be a reference case for certification. By applying the standards and certification schemes on such projects we will receive valuable feedback to improve the IEC products. “Next we will go through the process of certification: from concept to construction to installation of a full-scale floating platform for tidal turbines,” continues Scheijgrond. “We expect this will result in robust standards and certifications schemes for the sector, and reduce the perceived risk associated with marine energy projects. This in turn will increase the interest from large investors, enabling the sector to deploy large marine energy projects.”
Met-Certified brings together partners from four European countries to advance the marine energy sector in the 2SEAS region: Tidal Testing Center (NL) as project coordinator, the European Marine Energy Center (UK), Lloyd’s Register EMEA (UK), IFREMER (FR), Tocardo Tidal Power (NL), Perpetuus Tidal Energy Centre (UK), NEC (NL), DNV GL (UK), Regional Development Agency West Flanders (BE), Ghent University (BE).
Filed Under: Offshore wind