2013 - University College Cork

WAVETRAIN2
Research Centre/Department/School:
Hydraulics and Maritime Research Centre (HMRC)
Contact PI: Prof. Tony Lewis (t.lewis@ucc.ie)
Researchers: Prof. Tony Lewis, Dr. Gareth Thomas, Julien Cretel (PhD student)
Start Year: 2010
End Year: 2012
Funding Body: European Community Seventh
Framework People Programme
Funding: €3,580,000
Collaborating Partners: 13 partner institutions and
17 associated partners spread across 7 EU countries.
Web: http://www.wavetrain2.eu
Research Projects Listing
The WaveTrain2 project was a multinational Initial Training Network which aimed to face the wide
range of challenges that industrial-scale wave energy implementation faces, focusing on technical
issues, from hydrodynamic and Power Take-Off design, to instrumentation issues and energy
storage and cost reduction shown to be critical for successful deployment. Non-technical barriers,
typically less tangible difficulties related to legal issues (licensing, conflicts of use, EIA procedures,
grid connection and regional differences) and the non-sufficient representation of socio-economic
benefits of the sector, were also dealt with, as they are seen as a major obstacle for fast implementation
on a European scale. As there was a shortage of trained engineers and researchers in the wave
energy field, especially those with industrial experience, another aim of the project was to create
the next generation of wave energy experts.
The Wavetrain2 Initial Training Network involved a very significant number of researchers and
institutions. As these early stage researchers had none or very limited knowledge on wave energy
a large effort was made to quickly introduce them to the many complex issues that these technologies
face. This was attained through the organization of short courses and stimulating the fellows
to attend a number of other scientific events and conferences in this area.
This project linked together 13 academic institutes with 17 commercial entities. In each instance
an early stage researcher (e.g. a PhD) worked or studied in an academic institute on a project
linked to a company.
KEY OUTPUTS
The Wavetrain2 short courses, lectured by a large share of the most important
senior wave energy researchers in the world, were very successful and
have become very recognized by the wave energy scientific community.
Seven short courses were organized throughout the project.
During the project, an impressive number of 22 early stage researchers
were contracted by the 13 partner institutions, totalling 606.5 researcher
months. This corresponds to more than 50 researcher-years of technological
development with a very impressive impact in this emerging sector.
RESEARCH PROJECTS
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