Advancing Marine Energy Technologies Through NREL's Laboratory Validation Capabilities (Text Version)

This is the text version of the video Advancing Marine Energy Technologies Through NREL's Laboratory Validation Capabilities.

[The video opens with shots of solar and wind energy farms before showing a hydropower dam.]

Renewable energy sources like solar and wind can help reduce global greenhouse gas emission and slow climate change. But they may not be enough. Waves can play a role, too. The energy surging in ocean waves within U.S. waters is equivalent to approximately 80% of the country's electricity needs. While we can't practically capture all of that energy, we could harness enough to help transition to a clean energy future.

So, why aren't waves powering your home right now? Wave energy converters—which transform ocean motion into usable energy—are still relatively new. Today, there are hundreds of diverse prototypes vying for commercial success.

But at the Flatirons Campus in Colorado, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (or NREL) can help prepare these prototypes by operating them in a controlled laboratory setting.

NREL's ocean-emulating machines—called dynamometers—subject devices to the forces they'll face offshore. They check how devices connect to the electrical systems that transfer the energy they produce to battery storage systems or the grid. The lab's experts can collect all this valuable operational data and help identify opportunities to improve the device designs and help prepare prototypes for riskier, more expensive ocean trials.

Scott Lambert (NREL mechanical engineer): So, really our role is to try and support the validation of these unique machines.

NREL's infrastructure and experts can handle a vast range of designs—from bobbing buoys to swaying paddles. Recently, the lab helped three industry and academic partners validate their power take offs—the machines that convert kinetic energy from waves into electric power.

In 2019, for example, a team from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University tested two wave energy prototypes and a power take-off using NREL's 2.50-megawatt dynamometer.

The trial run proved their technology was ready to take the plunge. Next stop: the open ocean.

Centipod Wave Energy also enlisted NREL's help to test their new 60-kilowatt machine outfitted with a type of permanent magnet linear generator.

Alan McCall (Centipod Wave Energy director): Aside from being able to operate in high-force, low-velocity operational regimes, this machine brings a lot of controllability into the wave energy sector. NREL and the 2.5-megawatt dyno have been instrumental in executing this project because we've been able to use this world-class facility. It will give us the tools to be able to improve the machine in the future.

Together, NREL's three dynamometers can prepare marine energy systems, ranging from watts to megawatts, for the rigors of ocean deployment.

Successful wave energy devices must weather aggressive seas, storms, debris, and corrosive conditions all while extracting high levels of energy from ocean waves and delivering this energy when and where needed.

Thanks to NREL's tools, C-Power learned their latest design, the SeaRAY autonomous offshore power system (AOPS), could do just that. At the lab, C-Power prepared their wave-powered device for a Hawaii deployment. They also checked their seafloor battery system, which can charge underwater robots used in marine research and more. Soon, the SeaRAY could help power the blue economy, providing sustainable energy for booming offshore industries, like fishing, military missions, and others.

But NREL did more than validate C-Power's device; they built its brains, too. The brains are NREL's Modular Ocean Data Acquisition system (or MODAQ), which will follow the SeaRAY AOPS into the water to capture critical data on how the well the device operates.

Andrew Simms (NREL water power technician): We're taking the next level of MODAQ, which is on this device. We collect the data, and we act on it in one system. We've actually never done that before. I've never done that before at NREL.

Reenst Lesemann (C-Power CEO): NREL has a critical role in this project, not only helping to provide the brains of the SeaRAY AOPS, but also helping with testing and debugging and de-risking the system before we get into the water.

Scott Lambert (NREL mechanical engineer): It's really expensive to deploy a machine like this you see behind me right off the bat in the marine environment. There are a lot of risks. Something may go wrong and it's hard to get to and very expensive. So, by doing things here in the lab in a controlled environment first, we can make sure that everything's gonna work as expected and take as much risk out of that process as possible.

Ismael Mendoza (NREL electrical engineer): One of the main things I look forward to seeing from the SeaRAY trials is the successful deployment of the system and integration of the two devices. This has improved and is helping industry mature and address the issues of climate change and power needs that the world is facing.

Arielle Cardinal (NREL water power program coordinator): At NREL, our system and component testing and validation capabilities for the marine renewable energy industry build on over 30 years of experience in wind, solar, grid, transmission, and siting. With this expertise, we are now able to provide the marine renewable energy community with the critical testing capabilities needed to take technology from lab to ocean, and then ultimately, accelerate growth in the blue economy.

The video closes with the words "Learn more about NREL's marine energy research at www.nrel.gov/water/marine-energy.html."