To spur economic growth and revitalize the ocean, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO) launched the Powering the Blue EconomyTM (PBE) initiative, which aims to foster long-term, sustainable growth of the blue economy by protecting the ocean and understanding and leveraging its immense power, learning the power needs of emerging coastal and maritime markets, and advancing marine renewable energy technologies.
NREL is helping achieve PBE goals through early-stage research and development by investigating power needs for blue economy sectors, such as offshore marine aquaculture, underwater vehicle charging, ocean observation, desalination, and seawater mining.
For example, NREL researchers are exploring the feasibility of using marine energy to provide power at sea and build resiliency in coastal communities, with a focus on disaster recovery. To this end, the team is researching designs for small-scale marine energy technologies.
