University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Spain
University College Cork (UCC), Ireland
Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Norway
École Centrale de Nantes (ECN), France

Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree in Renewable Energy in the Marine Environment (M.Sc.) - REMPLUS

Renewable energy plays a more and more important role. At a social level, renewable energy contributes to a more sustainable energy system, by providing a more independent power system and contributing to the reduction of global warming and climate change.

Offshore renewable energy has a vast potential, but they represent a major technological challenge. The harsh conditions offshore demand advanced specific knowledge in various scientific and technological fields, and specifically trained professionals are demanded by this industry.

The aim of the REM PLUS master is to form specialists with the required skills to accomplish this technological challenge.

The Master provides the student with skills in assessment, analysis, simulation, development and exploitation of all available energy in the marine environment and in project development of safe, efficient and reliable marine energy generation plants, including operation and maintenance design and study of the integration of the plants in the electric system.

The Master program is fully presented in English and classes are presented by professors of University of the Basque Country (Spain), University College Cork (Ireland), Ecole Centrale de Nantes (France) and NTNU (Norway), and professionals from the supporting companies and institutes.

The master also offers the possibility to develop the Master´s thesis in one of the supporting entities and it offers a number of scholarships.


The Universities

University of the Basque Country

UPV/EHU employs over 7.000 people throughout 31 faculties and schools geographically distributed in three campuses with over 50.000 undergraduate and postgraduate students. It holds agreements with more than 400 international universities. Five departments are involved in this proposal together with three Associate Centers. UPV/EHU in involved in the lecturing of tracks A and B in semester 2 in modules 1, 2, 4 and 5.

UPV/EHU expertise is focused in the aerodynamics for marine applications including offshore wave energy assessment, electrical and electronic equipment and control principles. The connection and integration into the electricity grid is a field in which UPV/EHU has a long experience both teaching and researching. Associate center BCAM is focused in the mathematical formulation of CFD whereas TECNALIA has a large experience in operation and maintenance of marine devices and finally IH CANTABRIA is expert on environmental issues and deployment of marine devices counting with its own water tank.

University College Cork

Green Campus award. In 2013, it became the first third level institute to hold a Green Flag award, and in 2016 successfully renewed its Green Flag award. UCC has a strong track record in H2020; as of September 2017, UCC researchers secured 98 H2020 projects (32 as coordinator) representing a financial drawdown of €50.5M.The Environmental Research Institute (ERI) is a flagship research Institute at UCC that carries out interdisciplinary research in the broad Environmental, Marine and Energy area.

ERI has a total of 355 researchers (including 64 PIs and 65 postgraduate students). The ERI is the host institute for MaREI – the Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) Research Centre for Energy, Climate and Marine; researchers at MaREI work across the marine, renewable energy and marine renewable energy areas. Researchers in MaREI have over 20 years of experience leading and participating in European, International and national research projects.

MaREI has led and continues to lead a number of EU projects; for example, the following H2020 projects: Marine Investment in the Blue Economy (MARIBE; 2014-16), Marine Renewable Infrastructure Network for Enhancing Technologies 2 (MARINET2; 2017-21), Marine Renewable Energy Research Infrastructure (Marinerg-I; 2017-19), and Multiple Use of Space for Island Clean Autonomy (MUSICA; 2020-24). UCC in involved in the lecturing of tracks A and B in semester 1 in modules 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6.

Norwegian University of Science and Technology

In 2016, NTNU merged with the University Colleges in Gjøvik, Sør-Trøndelag and Ålesund to become a single university. The merger gives the university more comprehensive course offerings and larger research groups. NTNU is now Norway’s largest, most exciting and innovative university, and has the broadest study offerings of any Norwegian university in the different technological and artistic and aesthetic disciplines. NTNU has approximately 39000 students, with roughly 50% in technical and scientific disciplines, about 3000 international students, dozens of international student exchange programmes and more than 300 cooperative or exchange agreements with 60 universities worldwide.

At NTNU, research activities related to renewable resources are conducted in close cooperation with SINTEF, a research institute that is located at the same campus as NTNU in Trondheim. NTNU, the SINTEF Group and IFE (Institute for Energy Technology) cooperate on wind energy R&D through the Centre for Renewable Energy (SFFE) and especially the offshore wind energy centre, NOWITECH.

The vision of the Department of Electric Power Engineering is to conduct research and research-based education at an excellent international level. The department is the leading research group in electric power engineering in Norway, and holds a leading position in Europe in selected disciplines within its research areas, including energy markets, smart grids, power electronics and motor drives, and, renewable energy sources and new efficient energy systems.

The department is composed of 2 research groups, as follows: Power Systems (Currently 5 professors, 3 associate professors, 4 adjunct professors, 3 post docs. and 26 PhD students); Power Technology (Currently 6 professors, 3 associate professors, 1 adjunct professor, 2 post docs. and 21 PhD students.

École Centrale de Nantes

The main academic activity of Ecole Centrale de Nantes (ECN) is to train engineers for industry (three years of training with a level of master 2 for graduates). The training consists of high-level scientific and technical teaching. Ecole Centrale de Nantes has a total of 2150 students including 500 Masters or PhD students and 250 continuous training students. It holds agreements with more than 240 international universities. The research and teaching staff counts 150 persons. ECN is one of the five general engineering schools of the Ecoles Centrales Group (Paris, Lyon, Lille, Marseille and Nantes). This group has gained an international recognition with more than 1800 engineers graduated every year and more than 2000 researchers.

ECN expertise is focused on free surface hydrodynamics for marine renewable energy systems. This includes wave resource assessment and modelling of the interactions between wave and marine structures through the use of experimental and numerical approaches. The practical application to the design and the optimization of marine renewable energy systems is a field in which ECN has a long experience in both teaching and researching.

The unique academic large scale facilities available at ECN: a towing tank (150m long) and a large ocean wave basin (50m length, 30m width and 5m depth with a multiflap wavemaker able to generate complex multidirectional waves) will contribute to the teaching programme of the master. These experimental facilities will also possibly host students for their master’s thesis.