Marine and Hydrokinetic Technology Market Acceleration
The Wind and Hydropower Technologies Program works to foster a commercial market for marine and hydrokinetic energy devices. Market acceleration efforts include project siting activities as well as market assessment and development activities.
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Project Siting
Proper project siting is necessary to minimize environmental impacts and expedite the permitting process for marine and hydrokinetic devices. The program funds assessments of the potential environmental impacts of device deployment, including navigational and competing-use impacts. The program is creating guidelines to help device developers navigate the regulatory process, as well as a framework for identifying critical project siting information and assessing potential environmental, navigational and competing-use impacts.
Environmental Impact Assessment
The program supports research into the effects of marine and hydrokinetic technologies on aquatic ecosystems and how to avoid or mitigate such effects when possible. The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 calls for the Department of Energy to prepare a report to Congress that addresses the effects of marine and hydrokinetic energy projects, including potential environmental impacts, options to prevent adverse impacts, potential roles for environmental monitoring and adaptive management in mitigating impacts, and necessary components in adaptive management. The report is a cooperative effort with the Department of Commerce (working through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) and the Department of the Interior.
Public Outreach
The program engages stakeholders to solicit input on the technology development and market acceleration activities most effective in furthering the deployment of advanced water power technologies. The program uses input from Congress and other federal agencies; attends and contributes to annual industry conferences and other events to explain program activities and solicit feedback; and engages stakeholders to determine critical project siting information.
Intergovernmental Collaboration
The Department of Energy has taken a leading role in convening federal agencies to discuss ongoing marine and hydrokinetic resource use and technology development. Federal agencies actively involved in these discussions include the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Mineral Managements Service, National Park Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Coast Guard, Department of the Navy, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. These agencies share information on a large range of issues, including project news, financial opportunities for marine and hydrokinetic technologies, mapping, and coordinating rules and regulations.
Market Assessment and Development
The program funds activities that will reduce marine and hydrokinetic energy costs and technical and project risks to help accelerate the commercial deployment of these technologies.
Resource Assessments
The amount of energy that can be extracted from marine and hydrokinetic resources is not fully known. The program supports assessments for wave, tidal, current, in-stream hydrokinetic and ocean thermal energy gradients in a number of locations across the United States.
Standards Development
The emerging marine and hydrokinetic energy industry requires the development of national and international technical standards to ensure the international compatibility, interchangeability and basic safety of devices and to enable comparison and evaluation of technologies. The program works with the International Electrotechnical Commission's Marine Energy Committee to develop international standards for the marine energy industry worldwide.
The program funds Science Applications International Corporation to serve as the U.S. representative to the Committee. The program also funds the Marine Energy Committee's U.S. Technical Advisory Group, which coordinates and develops the U.S. position and input for the Committee through the Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
Technology Roadmapping
The program funds the Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory to develop a marine and hydrokinetic energy roadmap that will include a technology strategy, a commercialization strategy, and a deployment strategy. These strategies will be coordinated and linked to achieve the mutual vision of industry stakeholders.
Economic Analysis
The program seeks to fill data gaps necessary for industry advancement by collecting and analyzing cost and economic data for marine and hydrokinetic technologies. The program funds the Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory to adapt the Jobs and Economic Development Impacts model to predict job creation and economic activity generated by the water power industry in the United States. The program also plans to fund life-cycle cost assessments of project installed capital cost, operations and maintenance cost and the future cost of energy.