The Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center (NNMREC) held its Annual Meeting September 15th in Portland, Oregon. Participants included faculty, staff, and students from all three partner universities: University of Washington, Oregon State University, and the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Also in attendance were representatives from the Department of Energy Water Power Program, the University of Victoria, members of the Partner network, NNMREC’s Advisory Board, and other invited guests.

As demonstrated by a poster session the previous evening, NNMREC and its partners continue to responsibly accelerate marine energy development through their research. Such acceleration is amplified by the critical mass of collaborations among universities, industry, and the National Laboratory system that occurs under the NNMREC umbrella.

Pedro Lomonaco, NNMREC’s Acting Director, opened the meeting with a review of the DOE-funded Advanced Laboratory and Field Arrays (ALFA) project, which has explored topics ranging from debris detection in rivers, to coordinated control of arrays of wave converters, to demonstrations of ROV intervention in marine energy environments. The outgoing Director, Dr. Belinda Batten, then (literally) passed the baton to NNMREC’s incoming Director, Dr. Brian Polagye. The meeting continued with panel discussion by members of the Industry Partner Network, who shared their insights on technical and environmental developments in the field. The event concluded with a panel on showcase research initiatives within NNMREC, including presentations on Alaskan R&D by Dr. Jeremy Kasper (Co-Director) and collaborative industry projects by Dr. Ben Maurer (Assistant Director).