Marine energy spans a wide range of technologies, research areas, and collaborative opportunities. To help visitors, prospective students, partners, and community members better understand PMEC and the work of our partner institutions, we’ve compiled answers to the questions we receive most often. These responses offer a high-level overview of our purpose, capabilities, and organizational structure, with links to additional resources throughout the site.
For general purposes the term marine energy, also called marine renewable energy (MRE) or marine hydrokinetic energy (MHK), most commonly applies to energy generated from waves, tides, and currents. These forms of energy generation could be used in oceans, rivers, tidal areas, and a number of other marine settings. Marine energy can also include energy generated from ocean temperature gradients (ocean thermal energy conversion, or OTEC) and salinity gradients.
While offshore wind is not technically a form of marine energy, many PMEC members are active in offshore wind research and development due to overlapping concerns in topics like power integration and ocean engineering.
Traditional hydropower, energy generated in dams, is not considered to be marine energy.
More introductory information about marine energy can be found on web pages from PMEC collaborators such as the DOE’s Water Power Technologies Office, PNNL’s Tethys Knowledge Base, and David Hume’s Liquid Grid website.
There are multiple ways to collaborate. On one end of the spectrum are transactional contracts at affiliated testing facilities with varying levels of support by staff, students, and faculty. On the other are sustained research & development partnerships that collaboratively address challenges faced by industry. The latter often lead to joint publications and graduate student theses that disseminate results to the broader community, while protecting the Intellectual Property of industry partners.
PMEC also has an Industry Partner Network (IPN) whose members are invited to participate in its annual All-Center Meeting and receive periodic updates about PMEC activities. There is no charge to join the IPN. Questions on the IPN can be directed to communications@pmec.us
In general, no. Within the partner universities, most activity is aligned with specific funding objectives of federal, state, or private sponsors and cannot be unilaterally re-directed. PMEC is in the process of identifying mechanisms to better support early-stage collaborations with industry, particularly through the DOE’s upcoming Testing Expertise and Access for Marine Energy Research (TEAMER) program.
No, PMEC is not a degree-granting organization. Graduate and undergraduate students involved in PMEC activities are pursuing degrees from departments/schools within their respective universities. Prospective students can learn more about how to get involved with PMEC on the Study with PMEC page.
PMEC was established by a single grant from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Wind and Water Power Office (DOE WPTO). This unified and expanded activity at Oregon State University and catalyzed activity at the University of Washington. Consortium-level funding from DOE played a similarly important role in bringing the University of Alaska Fairbanks into the Center in 2014.
Since inception, activity across institutions has diversified and now includes individual programs funded by the DOE WPTO, as well as investments by other federal agencies, states, industry, and foundations. This diversity has varied over time at partner institutions. A list of major sponsors can be found on the People page.
The leadership team coordinates activities across the institutions in a manner that provides the greatest benefit for industry, students, and government agencies.
An Advisory Board consisting of representatives from governmental and non-governmental organizations, the Industry Partner Network, and the DOE National Laboratories active in marine energy (NREL, PNNL, and Sandia), advises the leadership team. At present, the Advisory Board convenes in a face-to-face meeting with the leadership team following the annual All-Center Meeting.
