Interreg North Sea welcomes eight innovative projects
In mid-May 2024, the Interreg North Sea Monitoring Committee met in the Danish capital of Copenhagen. The mail goal was to reach a decision on the different projects submitted in call 4. This call focused on projects in Priority 1: ‘Robust & smart economies’.
Out of nine project proposals submitted, eight were given the green light. These projects will collaborate transnationally in the coming years on a variety of themes, including smart energy systems, climate adaptation, offshore renewable energy and smart charging hubs.
These 8 projects account for an overall ERDF budget of almost 19 million euros. As a result of this approval, the Interreg North Sea budget has been fully allocated. This implies that there are no new project calls scheduled for the time being.
OASIS
One of the approved projects is the OASIS project, which stands for Offshore Accelator for System Integration and Storage. Under the coordination fo the Dutch Marine Energy Centre, partners from Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Norway, Sweden and Denmark will be working together in the offshore renewable energy industry for the next three years.
Managing offshore energy production is quite a challenge, in part to due changing weather patters. What's more, this is an industry with a high entrance barrier for SMES. OASIS will help SMEs to enter this industry and to implement their ideas, with a focus on developing system integration and storage solutions.
Belgian partners
The partners in the project include three Belgian organisations: spearhead clusters Flux50 and Blue Cluster, as well as the company BOVA ENVIRO+.
Blue Cluster advocates a competitive and sustainable blue economy in Belgium and beyond. Participation in the OASIS project is therefore perfectly in line with our objectives.
There is a growing need for energy storage and grid stability, in part within the scope of the construction of additional offshore wind farms in the Belgian North Sea. Through the OASIS project, Flux50 and Blue Cluster will support new, innovative business activities that provide an answer to this.
Ann Overmeire
The Flemish energy cluster Flux50 puts the Flemish energy industry sector in the worldwide map. The cluster's exstensive knowledge and network will be used for pratical examples, training courses and coaching sessions.
BOVA ENVIRO+ is a research and consultancy firm that specialises in environmental, soil and sustainability issues. They develop various tools to heplp policy makers make more sustainable choices.
Under the supervision of Blue Cluster and VLAIO, BOVA ENVIRO+ has developed the MESAT tool: Marine Ecosystem & Sustainability Assessment Tool. This instrument measures the impact of marine renewable energy projects on 9 different ecosystem services. This tool is used within OASIS to provide insight into the impact of developed technologies.
In addition, BOVA ENVIRO+ is investigating the desirability of developing a light version of MESAT, which can be used as a first, quick check of the impact of technologies on the marine ecosystem.
With OASIS, we are embarking on our first transnational project; this is a first and produces interesting interactions. Ecosystem thinking does not stop at national borders. On the contrary! As an SME, we throw open our doors and look with curiosity at the surrounding countries within the Interreg North Sea project.
