Today, the nascent marine energy industry is putting promising prototypes in the water. These budding machines could soon produce clean energy from ocean and river waves, currents, and tides to power coastal and remote communities and the U.S. power grid.
While today’s open-water trials are a critical step to learn how prototypes work in a real-world setting, collecting data in a salty, tumultuous environment is not always easy. But it can be far easier with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s in-water data solution tool, which recently helped four marine energy projects advance towards commercial success.
