IEC Creating Technical Committee for Ocean Energy Devices

June 8, 2007 // Published as a news service by IHS

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The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) Standardization Management Board (SMB) will create a new technical committee for marine energy, which would cover all aspects of wave and tidal energy conversion.

The announcement was made in the IEC May newsletter.

The IEC asked Technical Committee (TC) 88 - Wind Turbines to study the possibility of expanding their scope to include the broader aspects of ocean energy devices after TC 4 - Hydraulic Turbines said it could not take over that activity.

The subject will be discussed at the June SMB meeting and will be supported by a presentation from the International Energy Agency (IEA).

The IEA's implementing agreement on Ocean Energy Systems began in October 2001. The agreement's mission is to enhance international collaboration to make ocean energy technologies a significant energy option in the mid-term future, said the IEA.

The agreement's objective is to lead to the deployment and commercialization of ocean energy technologies. Priorities include ocean waves and marine current systems.

There is a growing awareness of economic, energy security and environmental values of renewables and of its critical role to sustainable development. This is leading to political initiatives to promote their development such as the European Union (EU) directive that establishes the target of increasing the 1997 6% share of renewables to 12% in 2010 and the approval of ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, said the IEA.

Renewables are also high on the agenda of developing countries and expanded renewable energy deployment is one of the key goals of the World Bank, according to the IEA.

Specific positive factors concerning ocean energy conversion are the energy resource that oceans contain and the continuous development of technologies to approach commercial viability.

The objective for ocean energy is "to realise by 2020 the use of cost-competitive, environmentally sound ocean energy on a sustainable basis to provide a significant contribution to meeting future energy demands apart from other uses such as desalination."

Sources: International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), International Energy Agency (IEA) and IEA Ocean Energy Systems (IEA-OES).