Renewable energy is about more than just tapping the power of the wind and the sun. Other, less obvious forms of technology hold great potential for clean and sustainable electricity generation.


The federal government has recognized the potential for wave and tidal energy by awarding more than $20 million in grants to various projects underway across the country. This August, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced that it had selected 10 organizations to receive the funds.


The awards will help support new research, development and demonstration projects that advance and monitor marine and hydrokinetic (MHK) energy systems.


According to the DOE, recent studies have found that America’s technically recoverable wave-energy resource ranges between approximately 900 and 1,230 terawatt-hours per year. This resource is distributed across both of the country’s expansive coastlines, Alaska, the Gulf of Mexico, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. With more than 50 percent of the U.S. population living within 50 miles of coastlines, the DOE believes MHK holds great potential to meet a major portion of the nation’s energy demand.


The DOE awarded funding to three demonstration projects, including the OceanEnergy oscillating water column wave-energy device off the coast of Oregon; a tidal turbine system off the coast of Maine; and the Triton wave-energy converter at the U.S. Navy’s Wave Energy Test Site in Hawaii.


Grants were also awarded to projects designed to improve monitoring capabilities for the purposes of protecting wildlife. These projects include an active acoustic monitoring system to automatically detect and locate wildlife near MHK devices at ranges between 200 and 300 meters; light imaging, ranging and detection tools to observe marine animal interactions in murky or low-light conditions; a buoy platform to develop a cost-effective compact array of sensors for measuring noise produced by devices; a standardized mapping toolset and protocol for assessing seafloor habitat conditions; a drifting underwater microphone system to capture sounds; an integrated set of instruments for monitoring marine animal interactions with MHK devices; and electromagnetic field sensors for use around MHK devices.