UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
OTHER RELEVANT NATIONAL ACTIVITIES
In 2015, the Marine Energy Council (the U.S. industry association for MHK) and DOE’s Water Power Program will once again hold the International Marine Energy Conference and the Marine Energy Technology Symposium. These events are being held this year at the Capitol Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C., on 25-27April 2016 in conjunction with the National Hydropower Association (NHA) Annual Conference. Holding these three events together provides the invaluable opportunity for public and private industry stakeholders and the R&D community to come together to advance the interests of the U.S. marine energy industry. More information on all three events can be found on the NHA annual conference website.
Numerous experts from National Labs, industry, and academia participate in IEC TC 114, both administratively and on project teams to support the development process and ensure that U.S. input is considered as international standards for the MHK industry are developed. The development of standards will facilitate more rapid and reliable deployment of MHK devices. In 2015, the U.S. Technical Advisory Group staffed 20 IEC-related meetings around the globe and contributed to the publication of three technical specifications covering mooring systems, wave energy resource assessment and characterization, and tidal energy resource assessment and characterization. Publishing these as specifications is the first step toward these guidelines becoming published as international standards to be used by the MHK industry and certifying bodies, which will help secure investments in marine energy projects.
