Julia Fernández Chozas has been involved in the research and development of wave energy since 2007.
- Julia’s Master Thesis looked into the insights of wave energy, studying three wave energy technologies and the physical principles of their energy conversion units: the Archimedes Wave Swing and direct electric generators, the Pelamis device and hydraulic systems, and Oscillating water columns, Mutriku pilot plant and air turbines. The Master thesis (in Spanish) can be accessed here: “Energía Undimotriz: Una aproximación al aprovechamiento de la energía de las olas para la generación de electricidad”.
- After graduating in Electrical Engineering at Polytechnic University of Madrid in 2008, she joined the 3-year Wavetrain2 project funded by the European Commission within the FP7 and the Marie Curie Actions Programme. The goal of the European Commission with the Wavetrain2 project was to create a knowledge-based community of researchers on wave energy. As part of Wavetrain2 she held a research engineer position at SPOK ApS, a Danish consultancy on marine energies and partner of Wave Dragon technology.
- In March 2013 she was awarded the PhD at the Civil Engineering Department of Aalborg University, a reference and leading university in the wave energy sector. The PhD Thesis “Technical and non-technical issues towards commercialization of wave energy converters” has examined technical, social and economic aspects blocking the development of wave energy, and has studied the advantages of combined wave and wind energy systems.
- In 2011, Julia was appointed by AENOR (Spanish Normalisation and Certification Agency) as an expert evaluator for ocean energy projects, which implies techno-economic evaluation of the research content of projects.
- In 2011 and 2012 she was a member of the Steering Committee of INORE (the International Network of Offshore Renewable Energy), a worldwide network of researchers involved in the development of wave, tidal and offshore wind energy.
- In May 2014, Julia was appointed expert evaluator of Horizon 2020 projects, and has assisted the European Commission in the evaluation of several Horizon 2020 calls.
- In 2012, Julia started teaching in the wave energy field and other related topics to high-school, bachelor and master students as well as industry professionals in Denmark, Spain and Ireland.
Throughout these years, she has participated in the most relevant conferences and workshops of the sector, has published articles and reports, and has attended numerous courses, where she has been taught by the experts of the sector. All of these have contributed to building an extensive and international network within the marine energy field.
In April 2013 she funded her own consultancy, now with more than 10 years of trajectory.
