Water Power Technologies Office R&D Deep Dive Webinar Series: Marine Energy Testing Needs to Inform Infrastructure Investments

On March 22, 2021, the U.S. Department of Energy Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO) announced $7.1 million to seven projects supporting marine energy testing infrastructures across five Department of Energy National labs. The goal of the award to was invest in lab infrastructure in support of advancing technologies under the Powering the Blue Economy Initiative and develop a roadmap on long-term infrastructure needs for marine energy.

A cross-lab team made up of representatives from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and Sandia National Laboratories was tasked with identifying areas for WPTO investments in laboratory testing infrastructure.

“Understanding the present and future testing needs is really going to be crucial for us and also for WPTO to be able to make an informed decision on programmatic investments,” said Rebecca Fao, a researcher at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, during the webinar.

The research team shared their preliminary analyses on testing needs and requested feedback from stakeholders and constituents during a webinar on February 9, 2022.

Webinar Timestamps:

0:00 – Introduction by Maxine Hillman, WPTO Communications
3:15 - Lauren Ruedy, WPTO Marine Energy Technology Manager
5:45 - Rebecca Fao, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
15:45 - Budi Gunawan, Sandia National Laboratory
28:05 - Emma Cotter, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
34:22 – Concluding remarks and Next Steps by Rebecca Fao
39:08 – Q&A with Research Team