3rd Marine Hydrokinetic Instrumentation Workshop

The  third  Marine  Hydrokinetic  Instrumentation  Workshop  was  held  at  Florida  Atlantic University’s  Sea  Tech Campus  in Dania  Beach, Florida, from  February 28  to March 1,  2017. The workshop brought  together  37  experts  in marine  energy measurement, testing, and  technology development  to present  and discuss  the  instrumentation and  data-processing needs  of  the  marine energy industry. The  goals  of  the  meeting were  to:

•  Better  understand  the state of  instrumentation,  measurement,  and data-processing  capabilities for  testing, assessment, monitoring,  and operation of  marine  energy converters  (MECs)

•  Identify gaps  (problems,  deficiencies,  or  lack of  capabilities)  in  marine  hydrokinetic  (MHK) measurement  and data-processing  technology, assess  the  impact  of  those  gaps, and prioritize the  gaps  for  solutions

•  Define pathways  for  developing solutions  to  the  gaps  

•  Present  progress  made to  address gaps  identified at  previous  workshops.

The  workshop was  comprised of  a  plenary session followed by two focused breakout  sessions. The  half-day plenary session reviewed findings  from  prior  instrumentation workshops, presented research  activities  that aim  to  fill  previously  identified  gaps, and  had industry experts  present  the state  of  the  marine  energy  measurement  technologies. The  bulk of  the  workshop was  spent  in the breakout  sessions  where  the  workshop participants  split  into three  groups  1)  wave  energy converter  (WEC)  field  testing and operation, 2)  current  energy converter  (CEC)  field testing and operation, and 3)  laboratory testing  (WEC  and CEC). The  first  session defined and ranked gaps in measurement  technology and data  processing. The  second  session defined ways  to  develop measurement  and  data-processing  technologies  to  fill  the  gaps. (NREL 2017)