The RiCORE D1.2 Interim Report outlines progress made during the first half of the Horizon 2020-funded RiCORE project (January–September 2015). This EU research initiative was created to improve the consenting process for offshore renewable energy (ORE) across Europe through risk-based approaches, standardization, and stakeholder collaboration.
🔧 Project Goals
The project was structured around three core aims:
- Understanding and comparing national consenting frameworks across EU Member States.
- Developing and testing risk-based consenting models (especially for small-scale deployments).
- Promoting standardized post-deployment environmental monitoring to reduce scientific uncertainty.
🏛 Project Partners
RiCORE brought together six main partners from five countries:
- Robert Gordon University (Scotland – Lead)
- Marine Scotland
- AZTI (Spain)
- WavEC (Portugal)
- University College Cork (Ireland)
- E-CUBE (France)
Additional contributions:
- EMEC (data validation)
- Aquatera (analytics and database support)
📅 Key Activities in the First Half
1. Inception Meeting
Held at Robert Gordon University (Jan 2015), where project structure, branding, and workshop planning were confirmed.
2. Project Website Launch
The domain ricore-project.eu and Twitter handle @ricoreproject were created.
3. Branding & Publicity
The team developed project logos, promotional materials (banners, postcards, USBs, branded folders), and began presenting RiCORE at events like:
- All-Energy 2015 (Glasgow)
- Marine Energy Week (Bilbao)
- OCEANOISE15, EWTEC, THETIS-EMR, and others
4. Expert Workshops
- Workshop 1 (Bilbao): Focused on pre- and post-consent monitoring strategies across countries.
- Workshop 2 (Paris): Explored national licensing systems and barriers to adopting risk-based consenting.
- Workshop 3 (Dunkeld, Scotland) was in preparation, aimed at synthesizing project findings.
5. Mid-Project Meeting (Lisbon)
Reviewed progress, aligned partners on upcoming deliverables, and discussed future workshops and the final conference.
📁 Deliverables Produced (First Half)
Public deliverables submitted by this point included:
D1.2: This interim report (authored by RGU)
D3.1: Review of the SDM (Survey, Deploy, Monitor) policy
D3.2: Novel technology selection for risk assessment
D4.2 & D4.3: Reports on pre-consent survey harmonization and cost-efficiency
D6.1: Project website
D2.1, D4.1, D5.1: Workshop reports
🧭 Next Steps for the Second Half
Planned future deliverables included:
- Legal feasibility studies on risk-based consenting (D2.2, D2.3)
- Risk profiling development (D3.3)
- Updated environmental monitoring standards (D5.2, D5.4)
- The final RiCORE Project Conference (planned for June 2016 in Brussels)
💰 Financial Overview
By September 2015, the project had consumed roughly 46% of its total allocated effort, with some variation among partners:
- AZTI had used 91% of its effort
- UCC only 32%, due to delayed deliverables scheduled for the second phase
🔗 Download the Full Report (PDF)
📄 RiCORE-D1.2-Interim-Report-Final-locked
Authored by: Andy Grinnall & Osa Udoh, Robert Gordon University
