Marine Renewable Energy Coallition (MRECo) of New England
The purpose of the Marine Renewable Energy Collaborative (MRECo) of New England is to foster the sustainable growth of marine renewable energy (offshore wind, wave and tide) through education, collaboration, and demonstration.
Welcome to the Marine Renewable Energy Collaborative!
Mission
The New England Marine Renewable Energy Collaborative (MRECo) is a nonprofit corporation that educates and involves all stakeholders (Academic, industry, governmental/regulatory, and public interest groups) to promote the sustainable development of renewable energy in New England ocean waters.
To do this, MRECo must establish:
Updated 12/2/2017!
- Processes and relationships to allow effective transfer of technology from universities to industry.
- A world class academic consortium to train the workforce of the future and to assist industry with basic and applied research.
- An industry user group to elicit research needs and to assist in advocating.
- Permanent ocean test sites to facilitate research and demonstration.
- Involvement of public interest groups to minimize ocean ecosystem impact.
News of Interest!
MRECo Executive Director, John Miller was interviewed by Sarah Tan at WCAI-Woods Hole, MA. Tan wanted to know what is happening with tidal energy world wide, in the US and at the Bourne Tidal Test Site located in the Cape Cod Canal. The story will be combined with a field interview Tan will make to the BTTS later next week (weather dependent).- For Immediate Release [ Follow this link for a printable version of this news release. >>> ]Info Contact: Maggie Merrill Communications Manager, MRECo; comms@mreconewengland.org, 617-306-2764
University of Rhode Island Students Retrieve ADCP at Bourne Tidal Test Site
L-R BTTS Site Manager C. Eben Franks, URI crew: Soroush Kouhi, Chris Small, Sandra Deeb, Jesse Moore
ADCP Popped to surface for retrieval at BTTS in Cape Cod Canal
As part of a research project, entitled, “Assessment of the Tidal Energy at a Demonstration Site: Cape Cod Canal, MA, URI doctoral student, Soroush Kouhi and three URI Ocean Engineering students went out to the Bourne Tidal Test Site Friday Jan. 19, 2018 to retrieve the Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) that was deployed one month ago to take water column velocity data. The data will be analyzed to show what the water velocities were for 30 days. The high resolution data will be correlated to result in a projected energy power output. Determining projected power output for a tidal testing area is important because when device developers install their own turbines at the BTTS, they can compare data from their turbine to the actual energy output recorded by the URI team. Of course every turbine is different but all designers hope to top or match their previous power output results.
URI and MRECo crew installing water level senor atop the BTTS Platform.
Soroush Kouhi listening to the Teledyne ADCP chirping at the boat ramp.
The Teledyne ADCP is enshrouded in a bottom mount frame – called a Trawl Resistant Bottom Mount - that is very rugged and is easy to deploy and recover. It was simply placed overboard, fell to the seafloor, was tethered to the BTTS structure and left to collect data for the past month. As with anything that enters the challenging marine environment, the ADCP was seen being buffeted by the currents and the ice floes that move by with the current. Mercifully its buoyancy bladder deployed on target and it floated to the surface for retrieval. “Now we have the hard work to do. We have to get all the data, analyze and process it and determine next steps. This will take a month or so” said Kouhi.
While out there, the team lead by MRECo’s BTTS Site Manager C. Eben Franks installed is a downward looking sea surface level sensor that will correlate tidal heights with the water velocities recorded underwater by the ADCP. All of this data will be combined to further characterize the water flow environment at the BTTS.
[ Follow this link for a printable version of this news release. >>> ]
Read more news. >>>
Upcoming
PRELIMINARY AGENDA & CALL FOR POSTER ABSTRACTS
Conference topic: Testing the Waters for Ocean Wind, Wave, Tidal Energy Development in New England
Conference Date: Wednesday May 16, 2018
Location: Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship 151 Martine Street, Fall River, MA
Purpose: The purpose of this conference is to bring together representatives of industry, government and research to share updates on the progress, opportunities and challenges of commercializing ocean energy in the US. Ocean energy is seen as a large, untapped frontier with initial successes demonstrated in Europe in the form of large offshore wind farms, with more modest testing and demonstrations of more nascent wave and tidal technologies. There are many risks and high costs to developing devices that can survive in the harsh ocean environment. One fundamental solution to de-risk the development of new technologies is to provide developers with a place to test their devices in the ocean waters, close to shore near infrastructure, a ready supply chain and a capable workforce, to facilitate commercialization.
With recent investments by MACEC and others in the Wind Technology Test Center; the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal (designed to serve as an assembly area for offshore wind operations) and the newly installed Bourne Tidal Test Site, MA is looking more and more attractive as place for ocean energy device developers to test equipment and manufacture it here for the US and export markets.
Sponsored by the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and Massachusetts Clean Energy Center with assistance from the Marine Renewable Energy Collaborative. Additional organizational sponsors include: Marine and Oceanographic Technology Network, Marine Technology Society’s Marine Renewable Energy Committee, others.
Who should attend? This conference will provide attendees (device developers, supply chain participants, workforce planners, investors and interested citizens) with a snap shot of what is going on in ocean energy in MA and New England. There will be plenty of time for networking and information exchange. Technical posters will be displayed by students and faculty.
PRELIMINARY AGENDA (Check here for updates) https://www.umassd.edu/innovate/events/
marinerenewableenergyconference/
10:30 Registration and coffee
University Research Posters on Display throughout conference. See Call for Poster Abstracts below)
11:00 Intros and Overview: Tobias Stapleton, CIE Executive Director
11:15: Keynote Address: Galen Nelson, Sr. Director Innovation & Industry Support, MassCEC Overview of what the State of MA is thinking with regards to creating a business environment for clean energy technology development. Specifically, Ocean Energy (wind, tides, waves)
Galen is the Senior Director of Innovation and Industry Support at the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center where he leads a team focused on providing targeted, strategic, and timely resources to help clean energy companies and entrepreneurs develop technologies, while moving closer to commercialization and market traction in established and emerging markets. The team’s multi-disciplinary approach includes efforts to strengthen workforce resources, inform market growth policy, develop and manage competitive technology development, demonstration and commercialization acceleration grant programs, and support key components of the Massachusetts clean energy industry eco-system. Galen’s individual work focuses primarily on microgrids, energy storage, and energy resilience.
12:00-1:15 Lunch and Networking University Research Posters on Display throughout conference
1:15-2:15 Panel 1: State of the Ocean Energy Playing field in New England
- Offshore Wind: Rachel Pachter V.P. Permitting Affairs, Vineyard Wind
- Ocean Waves: William Staby, President and CEO, Resolute Marine
- Tidal Energy: David Duquette, President Littoral Systems
- Other TBD
2:15-2:30: Coffee and Networking University Research Posters on Display throughout conference
2:30-3:30 Panel 2: NE Assets to Support Ocean Energy Development
- Supply Chain: Elise Korejwa, Sr. Research Associate, UMD Public Policy Center
- Training: Megan Amsler: Self Reliance, Inc.
- Tech and Maritime support (Cables, Instrumentation, Sensors): Rhonda Moniz,Hydroid, MOTN/MTS
- Structural design and manufacturing: Carl Horstmann, MassTank
3:30-4:30: Panel 3: Testing Infrastructure for Ocean Energy: Session Chair: John Miller, MRECo
- MA Wind Technology Test Center: TBA
- MRECo Bourne Tidal Test Site (BTTS), Eben Franks, MRECo Operations and Site manager
- Massachusetts Maritime Academy; Hung “Tom” Pham, Dir. Ctr. For Renewable and Responsible Energy (CRRE)
Over the last ten years, Mr. Pham has been involved in MMA’s green energy initiatives and renewable energy projects including tidal energy generation. With his wealth of experience in facility engineering and project management at the Academy he has led and successfully completed various hydrokinetic demonstration projects in the Cape Cod Canal and Muskeget Channel. He is now spearheading the Academy’s Center for Renewable & Responsible Energy, supporting the testing and monitoring of renewable energy devices as well as providing support for training programs. Mr. Pham is a professional licensed USCG unlimited mate on ocean going vessels. He has earned both Master of Science in Facilities Management and Bachelor of Science in Marine Transportation degrees from Massachusetts Maritime Academy.
4:30-5:00 PM Regional incubator to global market: Lessons along the path to commercialization: John Ferland, President & COO, ORPC, Inc.
John Ferland is responsible for ORPC’s daily operations, which now encompass twenty-six employees working in three countries on two continents. In addition to company headquarters in Portland, Maine, an operations center in Eastport, Maine, and a project office in Anchorage, Alaska, wholly-owned subsidiaries of ORPC are located in Montreal (EMARQ) and Dublin (ORPC Ireland). He has served as CEO of an oil spill response company and mentored numerous startups as director of a technology entrepreneur assistance program. John has an undergraduate degree from the University of Maine and a Master of Marine Affairs from the University of Rhode Island.
5-6PM: Refreshments and Networking University Research Posters on Display throughout conference
Call for Technical Poster Abstracts
This one day conference aims to bring together ocean energy businesses, developers , government folks to look at what testing facilities and infrastructure are available and needed to bring ocean energy systems to commercial levels right here in the Commonwealth. A Preliminary Agenda for the conference is available at: https://www.umassd.edu/innovate/events/
marinerenewableenergyconference/.
Wednesday May 16, 2018 Conference : Testing the Waters for Ocean Wind, Wave and Tidal Energy Development in New England
Time: 10:30 AM – 6:00PM
Location: Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship; 151 Martine Street, Fall River, MA
Due Date: Submit Poster Abstract no Later than Monday April 30, 2018 to Conference manager, maggielmerrill@gmail.com
Format: 300 word description with figures and/or entire proposed poster is acceptable as an abstract if one exists already. Please include author name (s), research/poster title, university affiliation, email address and tel/text.
Topics to include:
Test and evaluation of ocean wind, wave and tidal parameters
Ocean wind, wave, tidal energy device innovations
Small scale ocean wind, wave, tidal devices in need of testing prior to commercialization
Other related topics will be considered.
The posters will be displayed in reception area all day at the conference. Poster authors are expected to stand by their posters during the registration, coffee breaks, part of lunch (you can certainly eat lunch!) and during the reception. Student and faculty poster authors are provided free admission to the conference which includes free parking, refreshments and lunch.
Follow this link for a printable flyer of this event.
MRECo focuses on helping companies and universities get technology into the ocean... test tanks and flumes are critical to development, but we have to get "steel into the water" to understand the impacts of turbines on the environment and the environment on the technology.
Purpose
The purpose of the Marine Renewable Energy Collaborative (MRECo) of New England is to foster the sustainable growth of marine renewable energy (Offshore wind, wave and tide) through Education, Collaboration, and Demonstration. [ learn more ]
Vision
The Marine Renewable Energy Collaborative (MRECo) of New England envisions a future where New England obtains a significant, greater than 5%, of its power from reliable and predictable ocean based renewable energy technologies, and supports the infrastructure for testing that allows the cost effective, rapid commercialization of new sustainable technologies being developed by the rich entrepreneurial environment of the region.
Contact us today to for more information about membership or any other questions you might have.
Neptune
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Photos from the Bourne Tidal Test Site
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