Winners of funding will be given free access to a network of "real sea" testing sites at facilities around Europe, including the European Marine Energy Centre off the UK, SEM-REV off France, SmartBay off Ireland and the Tidal Testing Centre off the Netherlands.

Developers will need to be able to start trialling techologies before June 2018, with preference given to those ready for deployment in 2016 and early 2017.

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