RENOVABLES

Relaunch of renewable energies by providing high-level training for the Offshore sector within

the Blue Economy Value Chain and establishing synergies within the Euroregion

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has concluded that climate change is now indisputable and is having irreversible consequences. The RENOVABLES project seeks to foster strategic cooperation between the Euroregion’s socio-economic stakeholders to drive the blue economy around the Bay of Biscay. This will be achieved by focusing on offshore renewable energies, whose promising development in the “blue economy” is a strategic focal point and also given its important value chain in the case of the Basque Country. The aim is to promote synergies, based on a high-level training cross-border network and whose existence is justified by its energy potential. Its goal will be to become a leading driver hub within the marine sector in the Euroregion, in the context of a climate neutral Europe.

As the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development has stressed, blue growth will only advance by means of research excellence and advanced training, coordinated by ensuring effective communication between scientists and socio-economic stakeholders. The current limitations are down to:

  • gaps in scientific knowledge, and
  • the imperative need for qualified personnel in the offshore sector.

According to 2014-2020 RIS3 defined by each region as indicated by the European Commission, the energy area explicitly includes offshore and marine (wave) energy.

RENOVABLES is thus a trailblazing contribution involving three public universities (University of the Basque Country, Bordeaux University and Public University of Navarra) that seeks to catalyse intersectoral cooperation in order to generate innovative methods, products and services using renewable marine resources.

This project is in line with regional roadmap for the green and energy transition of the Euroregion. It aims to work with civil society and the territories to embrace the challenges of the energy transition to achieve the target of 45% renewable energies by 2030. The socio-economic stakeholders and the transfer services of the partner universities (OTRI -Research Results Transfer Office – in the Basque Country and Navarra – and SATT -Société d’Accélération de Transfert de Technologie – in Aquitaine) will also be involved in order to optimise the transfer modalities.