So just what does marine renewable energy have to prove?
Marine Renewables Canada’s 2013 event will be in Ottawa in early November. We will address this shift away from a standard technology commercialization model toward a market-driven search for industrial solutions. The theme will be “From prototyping technology to prototyping an industry”.
This theme will in fact be fundamental to the work of the association over the coming years. At least in early projects, that core energy capture/generator device may be only 1/3 of the project costs. The shift from demonstration of prototype single devices to arrays means that solutions to the other 2/3 of project delivery should be developed in ways that are applicable to eventual larger industrial-scale deployments. It puts a premium on solving deployment, interconnection and operational issues, making monitoring of the environment and the equipment routine, and a better demonstration of a new industry operating in coastal environments. The early projects need what may be the potential long-term solutions. Those projects can be the incubator or demonstrator of these enabling innovations. Some of those innovations can go on to be applied worldwide as the new industry emerges.