The Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) and the Oceanic Platform of the Canary Islands (PLOCAN) have set direct partnership-cooperation within the framework of Educational Passages program. A mini-boat built at VLIZ has been recently shipped to PLOCAN facilities in Gran Canaria, in order to be deployed from a suitable location and aiming to start an exciting sailing-path across the Atlantic.
The Spanish Association of Marine and Off-shore Engineers (AINE, as it is known in Spanish) has organised the VIII PAT18 Technical Conference, the Marine Renewable Energy working group (ENERMAR) for the 29th and 30th of June, to be held in the PLOCAN shore offices in Taliarte (Telde), on the island of Gran Canaria, entitled “The sea and renewable energies. The contribution of Marine and Off-shore Engineering”.
The ENERMAR conference is aimed at presenting the opportunities available to local industry for opening up new markets; opportunities that arise from the ambitious programmes for rolling out these clean energies in Spain and throughout the world. The aim of the conference is to act as yet another contribution to meeting what is a vital challenge for our country.
Karen Kennedy, commercial counsellor in the Canadian Embassy in Spain, met with a large group of institutions and companies from the marine-maritime sector in the PLOCAN offices, and took part in a round table on the opportunities for co-operation between Canadian and Canary Island companies and institutions within the framework of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between the European Union and Canada (CETA).
The marinerg-i (H2020) project, a key initiative created to develop an integrated European infrastructure to facilitate the future growth and development of the marine renewable energies sector, was presented in Brussels on the 15th of March 2017. Senior EU representatives with responsibility for research and development of offshore renewable energies gathered for the official launch. Also attending were industry representatives for whom the integrating activity of marinerg-i will play a critical role in the process of developing technologies from concept through to market.