COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE EVALUATION Support instruments for the development of the ocean energy policy 2014-2020
Date: 2021-12-22
Institutions: Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, European Commission
Subjects: EU energy policy, climate change policy, conservation of resources, energy production, energy resources, management of resources, renewable energy, sustainable development, tidal energy, wave energy

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 22.12.2021  SWD(2021) 434 final  COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT  EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE EVALUATION  Support instruments for the development of the ocean energy policy 2014-2020 {SWD(2021) 433 final}  
 
 
Building on the well-developed policy framework supporting renewable energy, the European 
Commission adopted the Blue Energy Communication in 2014 to show its support and set an 
agenda  of  action  to  help  the  ocean  energy  sector  with  its  specificities  to  move  forward. 
“Ocean energy” has to be understood as six different potential energy resources deriving from 
seawater: tidal currents, ocean currents, tidal range (rise & fall), waves, ocean thermal energy 
and salinity gradient. Offshore wind energy and floating solar power are not a form of ocean 
energy,  since  they  rely  on  wind  and  solar  energy,  albeit  in  a  marine  setting.  The  general 
objective of the Communication was to increase the uptake of ocean energy by addressing the 
main bottlenecks that hampered the development of the sector at the time, namely technology 
(including 
costs, 
environmental impact assessment) and revenue support. 

licensing/consenting  procedures 

transmission  grid 

infrastructure, 

Between 2014 and 2016, the Commission supported the stakeholders’ Ocean Energy Forum, 
which  delivered  the  ocean  strategic  roadmap  “Building  Ocean  Energy  for  Europe”  in  2016 
(Phase  1).  This  Roadmap  identified  four  key  action  plans  to  support  ocean  energy 
development: 

  Establish a European phase-gate scheme to validate sub-systems and early prototypes 

in less mature ocean energy technologies; 
  Set-up a EUR 250m Investment Support Fund; 
  Set-up  a  EUR  50m  –  EUR  70m  Insurance  and  Guarantee  Fund  for  ocean  energy 

demonstrations and pre-commercial projects; and 

  De-risk environmental consenting through an integrated programme of measures that 
will  develop  guidance  on  planning,  consenting,  research  socioeconomics  and 
demonstration. 

The  second  phase  of  action  (Phase  2:  2017-2020)  included  the  development  of  a  European 
Industrial Initiative, based on the outcomes of the Ocean Energy Forum, and the development 
of sector-specific guidelines for the implementation of relevant legislation. 

The European Commission committed to evaluate the Blue Energy Communication by 2020. 
This  evaluation  is  based on  literature review, in-depth  interviews (including at  EU, national 
and regional level), private sector actors, research institutions and a Public Consultation. To 
evaluate  the  effects  of  the  Blue  Energy  Communication  and  the  Roadmap,  a  counterfactual 
scenario assuming that these policy tools had never existed was developed. 

From  the  present  analysis,  it  appears  that  the  EU  successfully  implemented  the  actions 
included  under  Phase  1  of  the  Communication,  by  setting  up  the  Ocean  Energy  Forum  and 
supporting  the  adoption  of  the  Ocean  Energy  Strategic  Roadmap.  For  what  concerns  the 
actions  under  Phase  2,  some  progress  has  been  made  in  the  development  of  sector-specific 
guidelines  for  the  implementation  of  relevant  legislation,  in  relations  to  the  EU  Nature 
legislation and to the MSP Directive, but no European Industrial Initiative was set up by 2020. 
The  Ocean  SET-Plan  adopted  in  2018,  however  addresses,  at  least  partially,  the  needs 
identified in the impact assessment. In addition, while outside of the scope of this evaluation, 
it  must  be  noted  that  the  Clean  Energy  Industrial  Forum  announced  for  2021  in  the  EU 

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offshore  renewable  energy  strategy  will  also  cover  the  ocean  energy  sector  and  therefore 
partially addresses the need for a European Industrial Initiative. 

The effectiveness of the EU intervention in support of the development of ocean energy has 
been affected negatively by several external factors: high profile failures in the ocean energy 
industry, the increased competitiveness  of other forms  of renewable energy technologies, as 
well  as  the  somewhat  poor  understanding/awareness  of  ocean  energy  have  had  a  negative 
impact on Member States’ and private investors’ willingness to support the sector.  
In  terms  of  efficiency,  the  financial  support  provided  by  the  European  Commission  for  the 
setup of the Ocean Energy Forum and for the related development of the Roadmap proved to 
be  useful  and  such  actions  would  have  been  unlikely  to  develop  without  EU  intervention. 
Moreover,  funding  through  calls  under  Horizon  2020  and  the  EMFF  helped  to  realise  the 
objectives of two out of four action plans outlined in the Roadmap.  

It  can  be  concluded  that  the  Blue  Energy  Communication  and  Roadmap  were  overall 
appropriate  tools  to  address  the  needs  and  challenges  faced  by  the  sector  in  2014.  These 
documents  also  created  a  momentum  and  provided  common  direction  and  priorities  for  the 
further development  of the sector. This  notwithstanding, it appears that the documents were 
overoptimistic  on  the  speed  of  development  of  the  technology  and  in  the  expectations  of 
additional support to be provided by Member States and the private sector.  

Overall,  the  Communication  and  Roadmap  appear  to  be  internally  coherent,  as  no  evidence 
has been found demonstrating incoherence: the actions build logically on each other and do 
not  overlap or contradict each other.  Nevertheless, a  posteriori,  certain  elements could  have 
been  better  considered  or  been  expanded  on  at  the  time,  for  instance  the  link  with  Member 
States  strategies  and  approaches  to  ensure  their  future  interventions,  the  different  business 
cases  for  ocean  energy,  the  needs  of  certain  technologies  and  the  connection  to  specific 
funding instruments for the implementation of the actions described. The recent adoption of 
the offshore renewable energy strategy by the European Commission will address remaining 
issues  that  are  transversal  for  all  offshore  renewable  technologies,  as  well  as  some  specific 
remaining issues for the ocean energy sector, which were identified during this evaluation. 

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