About

MARINERG-i is currently in the preparation phase, funded by the Horizon Europe Infradev programme
Budget: €3million
Duration: December 2023 – November 2026
Coordinator: University College of Cork
Consortium: 15 partners

The world is transitioning to more sustainable energy sources and offshore renewable energy has the potential to make a significant contribution. MARINERG-i is developing a plan for an integrated European Research Infrastructure, an independent legal entity, designed to facilitate the future growth and development of the Offshore Renewable Energy sector.

An application was made to the 2016 the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) roadmap and the proposed MARINERG-i Research Infrastructure was identified as an emerging Research Infrastructure of European significance. The concept developed from the MaRINET FP7 project (ended 2015), which demonstrated the benefits of uniting Europe’s leading renewable energy research organisations. MaRINET consisted of 45 infrastructures operated by 36 research centres across Europe and launched a second project (MaRINET2, January 2017-June 2021). It had measurable success, establishing an advanced community of testing infrastructures and enabling integration whilst supporting research and development in this sector. MaRINET was very well received by the infrastructure institutions, the Offshore Renewable Energy industry and national funding agencies who are now also supporting MARINERG-i.

The EU funded H2020 MARINERG-i project allowed key partners to develop the concept and documentation required to successfully apply to become a project on the 2021 ESFRI roadmap. MARINERG-i is now undertaking it’s preparatory work ready to apply to become a full legal entity, construct the e-infrastructure, and being implementing services to end-users.  This preparation phase is being funded by they EU Horizon Europe MARINERG-i_PP project (December 2023-November 2026).

Partners have joined together to complete the preparatory work required to establish this pan-European Research Infrastructure for Offshore Renewable Energy as an independent legal entity. The key aims include:

  • Broaden the number of member states involved, securing political and financial support for the implementation phase
  • Update the common scientific programme
  • Design and test the e-infrastructure, user access strategies, protocols and data management procedures
  • Produce an infrastructure development plan and engage with existing and potential participants
  • Develop a business plan including governance, legal, financial and strategic issues
  • Create and agree an implementation plan

See our Work Plan page for further information

MARINERG-i_PP is a key step in forming an independent legal entity …read more