16 European Ocean Energy Projects Plan to Deploy 196 MW by 2030

en.Wedoany.com Reported - The industry association Ocean Energy Europe released the "Stats & Trends: Ocean Energy Market Outlook 2025" report, stating that 16 publicly funded tidal energy and wave energy projects in Europe have now entered the deployment pipeline, with plans to install approximately 196 MW of ocean energy capacity in total by 2030, involving about 200 devices. In addition to this batch of supported projects, existing policy targets and market mechanisms across European countries also plan to further unlock approximately 650 MW of ocean energy capacity by 2030.

Among them, tidal energy projects still account for the main share. Europe has now formed 11 pre-commercial tidal energy arrays, with a total planned installed capacity of 172 MW and about 140 devices. The UK's Contracts for Difference mechanism and France's feed-in tariff support are important pillars for advancing recent tidal energy projects. France also plans to launch a 250 MW commercial tidal energy tender by 2030, providing new market space for subsequent large-scale projects.

Wave energy, meanwhile, is beginning to move from single-device verification toward array-based deployment. A total of 5 publicly funded wave energy projects are currently planned to be commissioned by 2030, totaling approximately 24 MW and 66 devices. Among them, the VianaWave project being advanced by CorPower Ocean in Portugal has a planned scale of 10 MW, has received EUR 40 million in support from the EU Innovation Fund, and plans to build dedicated assembly facilities. It is one of the larger wave energy projects that has secured funding support to date. The expansion of the project pipeline is also beginning to drive investment on the equipment manufacturing side. The report shows that SKF invested a seven-figure sum in 2025 to build a dedicated assembly workshop for tidal energy turbine drivetrains in Hamburg, Germany, with an annual production capacity of 25–30 units. Over the past 5 years, Europe's ocean energy industry has attracted approximately EUR 150 million in cumulative private investment, and developers, equipment manufacturers, shipyards, and supporting suppliers are building a more stable production and delivery system around the first batch of array projects.

Under current plans, Europe's ocean energy industry will focus in the next stage primarily on shifting from single-device demonstration to volume manufacturing of equipment and array deployment. Of the existing 196 MW project pipeline, tidal energy accounts for about 88% and wave energy about 12%, corresponding to 140 devices and 66 devices, respectively. The pace of subsequent project implementation will mainly depend on long-term electricity price support, public funding, and progress in commercialization tenders in various countries.