On the 25^th of June the EIP Water Action Group Energy and Water Works came together in Brussels to present an interesting afternoon to the visitors to the EU Sustainable Energy Week. During a public meeting in the House of the Dutch Provinces showcases were presented to the visitors.

The afternoon was opened by Hans van Breugel, Chair of the EIP-Water Action Group with feedback on the results of  the Start-UP-meeting EIP-Water Action Group EWW earlier that day.

The Afsluitdijk-case was the first presentation of the showcases, held by Rick Siebers from REDstack the Netherlands. On the Afsluitdijk Siebers is working on a test case for Salinity Gradient. With reverse electro-dialysis (RED) technology electricity can be generated with water of different salinity, for instance sea water and river water, using ion selective membranes. Theoretically, with 1m3/s river water and an equal amount of sea water approximately 1 MW of renewable electricity can be recovered. Wouter Groenen en Zjev Ambachts elaborated on the Brouwersdam case. Alex Raventos (WaVEC) highlighted on the tidal energy demonstration projects in Portugal. Raventos: “The Ocean Energy Sector has the potential to supply a significant share of the future energy needs.”

Pauline Delleur, policy officer of Ocean Energy Europe indicated that “66 million EU homes could be powered by Ocean Energy”. Delleur invited the public and the presenters of the show cases to come up with great initiatives, so the momentum will be kept, involving policy makers at a national and European level. She further elaborated on the results of the SI Ocean report, which focusses on large scale wave and tidal energy projects and a market deployment strategy for Europe (please find the whole report on the website: www.ocean.energy.europe)

Robert Schröder, coordinating policy officer of the EIP Water at DG Environment, congratulated the Action Group for being elected. He stressed the goals of the EIP water: “It is all about implementation of the water frame work directive; no more basic research, instead innovation, the value chain and the demand side of the market is central. The Action Groups should be working on visible solutions where you can show impact is important. To realize this making a connection between the different action groups is very important.”

The afternoon was closed with a chance to network over drinks and snacks.

Hans van Breugel

Rik Siebers

Zjev Ambagts

Wouter Groenen

Alex Raventos

Pauline Delleur

Robert Schröder

Forum discussion