A study into the potential social value offered to Europe from the development and deployment of wave and tidal energy to 2050

Image: Orbital Marine Power

This new ETIP Ocean report gathers evidence on the direct and indirect impacts, in terms of job creation, training needs and business opportunities along the value chain, to the European society and economy of the development of wave and tidal energy technologies in Europe and their deployment globally to 2050.

According to the scenario ‘Europe leads the global market’, the ocean energy sector will create 500,000 jobs in Europe by 2050. This requires Europe to make efforts to be a market leader for ocean energy, creating a strong European supply chain and retaining a high proportion of the economic activity required for the deployments foreseen by 2050. If Europe loses its leadership, the job creation drops down to 200,000 by 2050.

The report suggests that building a policy framework that supports faster innovation to reach net zero by 2050, European leadership in the global market and a strong supply chain is critical for maximising the socio-economic benefit.