Ocean Energy Systems (OES-E)-Environmental hosted a workshop as part of the 2025 Ocean Renewable Energy Conference (OREC) conference on 12th August 2025 on "Environmental Effects of Off-Grid Marine Renewable Energy". The workshop aimed to engage Marine Renewable Energy (MRE) researchers, students, technology and project developers, consultants, and other industry proponents to discuss the potential environmental effects of off-grid MRE devices.
Most environmental research and monitoring for MRE devices have sought to understand effects that will drive permitting and licensing decisions for large, utility-scale projects. However, many near- and long-term uses of MRE will be to power remote coastal and island communities via distributed technologies, or to provide power at sea for offshore aquaculture, ocean observations, and other uses. There has been little focus on the potential environmental effects for these increasingly more common off-grid uses. The smaller MRE devices required for these applications are likely to have different, and possibly lower, environmental effects than large-scale MRE projects. Collecting and disseminating research on these risks can be key to reducing uncertainty and progressing the industry.
The workshop consisted of a presentation on current OES-Environmental research and an overview of two hypothetical use cases created to be informative to non-experts and trigger dialogue, followed by breakout group discussions:
- Tidal energy to power the remote community of Stuart Island, Washington, U.S.
- Wave energy to power a coastal weather observation buoy in Shelikof Strait, Alaska, U.S.
Agenda
Lenaïg Hemery – Introduction to OES-Environmental
Andrea Copping – Overview of off-grid MRE and the environmental effects of MRE
Lenaïg Hemery - Overview of hypothetical off-grid use cases
Break out group discussions
Past Events
- OES-Environmental Workshop: Environmental Effects for Permitting Off-Grid Marine Energy Applications, Melbourne, Australia, 19 September 2024 15:30-17:00 AEST