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Scotland’s wave energy body is to play a key role in a European project aimed at accelerating the development of the sector.

Wave Energy Scotland (WES), has become a partner in the €8 million, EU-funded project, DTOcean+.

The project has been set up to create open source software to help improve the reliability, performance and endurance of ocean energy systems, making the sector more attractive for private investment.

WES, backed by the Scottish Government, will provide insight from its technology development programme which has awarded 77 projects a total of £28.2m since 2014.

Tim Hurst, WES managing director, said: “Becoming a partner in this major initiative takes our work to a whole new level. Those involved with ocean energy technology across Europe are working together to share best practise. Our role is to secure additional benefits for Scotland’s wave energy sector.”

WES is already working with US partners Sandia National Laboratories and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory on developing common metrics for evaluating wave energy devices.

The DTOcean+ partnership started in May this year and will run until April 2021. It is managed by Tecnalia in Spain and brings together 15 partners from eight different countries (UK, Spain, France, Italy, Sweden, Portugal, US and Denmark).