Marine renewable energy (MRE) systems are relatively new waterpower technologies that capture and convert energy from offshore wind, waves, tides and ocean currents into electricity. Compared to hydropower, these technologies are still in their infancy in terms of the scale and extent of commercial deployment. This is largely due to the knowledge and experience gap in the understanding of the potential environmental and ecological impacts, which may result from the acoustic, electromagnetic and chemical emissions of MRE devices, flow changes caused by MRE structures, as well as physical interactions between marine animals and MRE structures. The uncertainty about these impacts may vary between technologies and at different system scales, adding to the difficulty of understanding and mitigating them.
The overarching goal of this Research Topic is to collect and publish novel and exciting research that helps enhance our understanding of and ability to mitigate the potential environmental and ecological impacts which could be introduced by deployments of MRE systems. Specifically, the project will focus on the concept demonstration, development, trial deployment and commercialization of novel technologies that would contribute to this goal. The dissemination of the results, analyses, methodologies and devices/systems reported in this Research Topic will contribute to reducing the time and cost needed for the permitting processes of MRE projects as well as improving the sustainability of these projects, which consequently will help accelerate our progress of tapping into the ocean's vast capacity of renewable energy.
This article collection aims to solicit research on novel technologies that help identify, monitor, understand and determine the severity of various potential impacts of MRE and offshore wind systems on marine species and/or environments.
We seek contributions addressing the following themes:
1) Technologies that help to identify potential environmental and ecological impacts of MRE devices and structures, as well as the affected species (life stages, timing of their presence, etc.).
2) Designs, analytical tools, methods or systems that contribute to mitigate the environmental and ecological impacts of MRE devices.
3) Case studies that demonstrate how these new technologies are applied in actual marine environments.
4) Case studies that report and comment on the commercialization of these technologies.
5) Review articles that summarize the current status, the state of the art as well as limitations of these technologies.
Dr. James Joslin is the founder and president of MarineSitu, and Dr. Daniel J. Hasselman is employed by the private not-for-profit company, Fundy Ocean Research Center for Energy. The other Topic Editors declare no competing interests with regard to the Research Topic subject.
Marine renewable energy (MRE) systems are relatively new waterpower technologies that capture and convert energy from offshore wind, waves, tides and ocean currents into electricity. Compared to hydropower, these technologies are still in their infancy in terms of the scale and extent of commercial deployment. This is largely due to the knowledge and experience gap in the understanding of the potential environmental and ecological impacts, which may result from the acoustic, electromagnetic and chemical emissions of MRE devices, flow changes caused by MRE structures, as well as physical interactions between marine animals and MRE structures. The uncertainty about these impacts may vary between technologies and at different system scales, adding to the difficulty of understanding and mitigating them.
The overarching goal of this Research Topic is to collect and publish novel and exciting research that helps enhance our understanding of and ability to mitigate the potential environmental and ecological impacts which could be introduced by deployments of MRE systems. Specifically, the project will focus on the concept demonstration, development, trial deployment and commercialization of novel technologies that would contribute to this goal. The dissemination of the results, analyses, methodologies and devices/systems reported in this Research Topic will contribute to reducing the time and cost needed for the permitting processes of MRE projects as well as improving the sustainability of these projects, which consequently will help accelerate our progress of tapping into the ocean's vast capacity of renewable energy.
This article collection aims to solicit research on novel technologies that help identify, monitor, understand and determine the severity of various potential impacts of MRE and offshore wind systems on marine species and/or environments.
We seek contributions addressing the following themes:
1) Technologies that help to identify potential environmental and ecological impacts of MRE devices and structures, as well as the affected species (life stages, timing of their presence, etc.).
2) Designs, analytical tools, methods or systems that contribute to mitigate the environmental and ecological impacts of MRE devices.
3) Case studies that demonstrate how these new technologies are applied in actual marine environments.
4) Case studies that report and comment on the commercialization of these technologies.
5) Review articles that summarize the current status, the state of the art as well as limitations of these technologies.
Dr. James Joslin is the founder and president of MarineSitu, and Dr. Daniel J. Hasselman is employed by the private not-for-profit company, Fundy Ocean Research Center for Energy. The other Topic Editors declare no competing interests with regard to the Research Topic subject.
