INORE kicked off the 2018 AORES symposium with a welcome dinner. Fourteen attendees joined us for an introduction to INORE, followed by dinner and drinks at Steve’s Pub near University of Western Australia. It was a great chance to meet new and old INORE members. There was a strong contingent from the University of Tasmania, in addition to students and researchers from the University of Adelaide, the University of Queensland, and UWA.

The symposium commenced with an introduction of INORE to the conference participants. The afternoon sessions on wave and tidal energy were followed by an evening poster session at the UWA watersports centre, situated right on the Swan River atMatilda bay. That same evening INORE also hosted a paddle-boarding session, with eight participants braving the strong seabreeze for a sunset paddle on the Swan River, where they were lucky enough to see one of the river’s resident bottlenose dolphins.

This INORE event was the second in Austral-asia in 2018, with the first being at AWTEC in Taiwan just a couple of months before.

 INORE were kindly invited by the organizing committee to attend the 3rd Asian Wave and Tidal Energy Conference (AWTEC) in Singapore. As well as being allocated a session during the main conference, INORE were able to run a 2-day pre-conference workshop. While wave and tidal energy activity in Asia is ever increasing, as showcased by the AWTEC event, up until this year the presence of INORE in Asia was minimal. The pre-conference workshop, which took place in the Nanyang Technical University, was a small, informal event with 12 participants. Like a mini symposium, the event consisted of INOREan presentations, with the speakers discussing their work and their INORE experience and groups also carrying out collaborative tasks. 

The INORE session within the AWTEC Conference, chaired by the INORE Vice Chair Michele Martini, was a success and was well attended by around 40 delegates. The main crux of the session was an industry panel discussion focused on the importance of innovation for wave energy, with a particular focus on innovation in Power Take-Off systems. The panel members included Luca Castellini (Umbra Cuscinetti), Christopher Ridgewell (AW-Energy), David Campbell (Albatern) and Ander Hagnestal (KTH). While Umbra and KTH both work on unique PTO systems, AW-Energy and Albatern’s wave energy devices employ more typical Hydraulic PTO systems. The discussion touched on the bias towards Hydraulic PTO systems due to their perceived design simplicity, while more innovative solutions tend to be seen as higher risk, all parties agreed that there is much to be learned from other industries. Talks extended to the concepts of Open vs Closed innovation and while all panel members agreed that knowledge sharing should be more extensive, this is a sensitive issue amongst developers, not least because it depends heavily on the attitude of their investors. Overall, considering the early development stage of wave energy, innovation is definitely seen as a necessity to success. 

March 11, 2023 at the University of Edinburgh.

INORE has supported and offered assistance with the Day after the Tsunami Committee at the University of Edinburgh who held an event titled: “Renewable Energy Symposium: Fundraising Event for Fukushima.” This event was held to raise awareness of renewable energy in the UK, potential for renewable UK in Japan, and also to raise funds for the Fukushima Future Centre for Regional Revitalization at the University of Fukushima. The event was supported by the Embassy of Japan in the UK, and several industry partners. INORE co-hosted the event, alongside the Institute for Energy Systems at the University of Edinburgh. INORE chaired the event, and led a panel discussion with all the speakers. There were around 170 visitors and 30 volunteers at the event and despite heavy snow fall during the day, the venue was at its full capacity. The audience showed a lot of interest in renewable energy, and the interactive nature of the panel discussion, refreshment time and post-event reception meant a lot of knowledge exchange. From initial communication with the audience, there was seen to be a high degree of satisfaction. The event raised a total of £1,111.69 pounds, and INORE are delighted to have been able to contribute to that total, alongside providing organizational assistance.

INORE hosted a well-attended and well-received workshop at EWTEC 2013, on Thusday, the 5th of September, where we discussed an issue on everyone's mind: the future of offshore renewable energy.

More than 100 early stage researchers attended the workshop, more than the initial registration thanks to promotion of the event by EWTEC in its opening and closing sessions. The workshop was made up of an expert panel session, group discussions and ended with food and drinks at a local restaurant.

The expert panel included António F. de O. Falcão from Instituto Superior Técnico, Bruce Cameron, Nova Scotia Department of Energy, Chul H. Jo, Inha University, Peter Frigaard and Jens Peter Kofoed from Aalborg University, Enrique Vidal Sánchez, Wavestar Energy and Ian Masters from Swansea University. The questions discussed by the panel included: What is the future of offshore renewables, where will wave and tidal energy be in the next 5-10 years, and what are the main challenges that must be overcome in order for large scale power production to become possible?

Before a quick coffee break Adrian de Andres introduced the 2014 International INORE Symposium to be held in Spain.  For some this was their first INORE experience, so it was a great opportunity to spark their interest, and get them involved. 

Smaller group discussions were also held. Topics included:  developing a symbiotic relationship between MHK technologies and other more established offshore energy technologies, like wind, and the challenges faced by Offshore Renewable Energy.

After the workshop regional cuisine was enjoyed at a nearby restaurant, which of course led to a fun local pub for drinks, dancing, and strange Danish games involving hammers, nails, and a large log.