The FORESEA (Funding Ocean Renewable Energy through Strategic European Action) programme opened its third call for support package applications on Wednesday.

Support packages will help commercialize offshore renewable energy technologies by giving free access to FORESEA’s network of test sites.

The call is open to technologies ready to deploy and complete testing before 2019, and runs until September 29, 2017.

FORESEA is an €11 million project which helps to bring offshore renewable energy technologies to market by offering free access to a network of test centres.

The call will be formally launched at the Orkney Ocean Energy Day, which is taking place at the European Marine Energy Centre’s (EMEC) facilities.

EMEC programme manager, Nicolas Wallet, said: “Testing ocean energy technologies at sea is challenging: Capital costs are high, and technologies are not yet de-risked enough for private investors to step in. The FORESEA project makes a strong contribution towards overcoming this industry-wide challenge by reducing the up-front cost of testing.

“As well as continuing to support marine energy convertor technologies, the 3rd FORESEA call will reach out to developers of products, services and key components that will enable the development of the ocean energy sector. We encourage the value chain to get involved, using their expertise to provide solutions that help de-risk the sector.”