The Harsh consortium is committed to addressing several common challenges in a coordinated manner that considers energy use in marine environments

CHALLENGE 1: Offshore Oil&Gas
As a result of the oil crisis and the need to look for alternative sites, the development of offshore exploration began in the 1980s, particularly in deep waters. In 2015, it was already foreseen that approximately 10% of world oil production would come from the underwater environment. This context generates interesting opportunities in this market for those companies that have the appropriate technology to face the challenges posed in the manufacture of components and systems, their designs and the materials used, which can operate in the marine environment.

CHALLENGE 2: Offshore wind
The current energy scenario must evolve and hence contribute to an environmentally sustainable energy economy. In this respect, offshore wind power is an alternative with excellent future prospects, although its level of implementation is already noticeable. However, its offshore location, the complexity of all the installation and O&M activities of offshore farms, as well as the increasingly restrictive power supply requirements and demands, mean that the necessary current and future investment for the commissioning and operation of this type of plants is huge.

Therefore, it involves a great technological challenge and requires a medium and long term commitment to develop alternative technological solutions so that offshore farms can help to increase the reliability and quality of the energy produced by offshore wind farms and ultimately, help to make offshore energy profitable even for future location.

CHALLENGE 3: wave energy
The Basque Country, with its coastline spanning 150 kilometres, has great potential for generating energy through wave power. Therefore, plans such as 3E2020, PCTI 2015 and the EnergiBasque Strategy aim to accelerate the technological and commercial development of marine energy to place the Basque Country at the forefront of knowledge and a reference for industrial development in this emerging sector.

These challenges derive from two essential characteristics presented by offshore energy use: on one hand, the hostile conditions of the environment itself and on the other hand, the need to reduce costs. In this context, it can be seen that the development of fossil and renewable energies is clearly in a phase oriented at the “MARINISATION” of facilities, systems, and components.