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Union Calendar No. 121 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2313 

[Report No. 110–202] 

To establish research, development, demonstration, and commercial 

application programs for marine renewable energy technologies. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 15, 2007 

Ms. HOOLEY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Science and Technology 

JUNE 21, 2007 

Additional sponsors: Mr. ROHRABACHER, Mr. INSLEE, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. 

HONDA, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Ms. CASTOR, Mr. WU, and 

Mr. MILLER of North Carolina 

JUNE 21, 2007 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on May 15, 2007] 

A BILL 

To establish research, development, demonstration, and commercial application programs for marine renewable energy technologies. 


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1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Marine Renewable En5 ergy Research and Development Act of 2007’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) The United States has a critical national in9 terest in developing clean, domestic, renewable sources 

10 of energy in order to reduce environmental impacts of 

11 energy production, increase national security, im12 prove public health, and bolster economic stability. 

13 (2) Marine renewable energy technologies are a 

14 nonemitting source of power production. 

15 (3) Marine renewable energy may serve as an al16 ternative to fossil fuels and create thousands of new 

17 jobs within the United States. 

18 (4) Europe has already successfully delivered 

19 electricity to the grid through the deployment of wave 

20 and tidal energy devices off the coast of Scotland. 

21 (5) Recent studies from the Electric Power Re22 search Institute, in conjunction with the Department 

23 of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 

24 have identified an abundance of viable sites within 


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1 the United States with ample wave and tidal re2 sources to be harnessed by marine power technologies. 

3 (6) Sustained and expanded research, develop4 ment, demonstration, and commercial application 

5 programs are needed to locate and characterize ma6 rine renewable energy resources, and to develop the 

7 technologies that will enable their widespread com8 mercial development. 

9 (7) Federal support is critical to reduce the fi10 nancial risk associated with developing new marine 

11 renewable energy technologies, thereby encouraging 

12 the private sector investment necessary to make ma13 rine renewable energy resources commercially viable 

14 as a source of electric power and for other applica15 tions. 

16 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

17 For purposes of this Act— 

18 (1) MARINE RENEWABLE ENERGY.—The term 

19 ‘‘Marine Renewable Energy’’ means energy derived 

20 from one or more of the following sources: 

21 (A) Waves. 

22 (B) Tidal flows. 

23 (C) Ocean currents. 

24 (D) Ocean thermal energy conversion. 


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1 (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

2 the Secretary of Energy. 

3 SEC. 4. MARINE RENEWABLE ENERGY RESEARCH AND DE4 VELOPMENT. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, in conjunction with 

6 other appropriate agencies, shall support programs of re7 search, development, demonstration, and commercial appli8 cation to expand marine renewable energy production, in9 cluding programs to— 

10 (1) study and compare existing marine renew11 able energy extraction technologies; 

12 (2) research, develop, and demonstrate advanced 

13 marine renewable energy systems and technologies; 

14 (3) reduce the manufacturing and operation 

15 costs of marine renewable energy technologies; 

16 (4) investigate efficient and reliable integration 

17 with the utility grid and intermittency issues; 

18 (5) advance wave forecasting technologies; 

19 (6) conduct experimental and numerical mod20 eling for optimization of marine energy conversion 

21 devices and arrays; 

22 (7) increase the reliability and survivability of 

23 marine renewable energy technologies, including de24 velopment of corrosive-resistant materials; 


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1 (8) study, in conjunction with the Assistant Ad2 ministrator for Research and Development of the En3 vironmental Protection Agency, the Undersecretary of 

4 Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, and other 

5 Federal agencies as appropriate, the environmental 

6 impacts of marine renewable energy technologies and 

7 ways to address adverse impacts, and provide public 

8 information concerning technologies and other means 

9 available for monitoring and determining environ10 mental impacts; 

11 (9) establish protocols, in conjunction with the 

12 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 

13 for how the ocean community may best interact with 

14 marine renewable energy devices; 

15 (10) develop power measurement standards for 

16 marine renewable energy; 

17 (11) develop identification standards for marine 

18 renewable energy devices; 

19 (12) address standards development, demonstra20 tion, and technology transfer for advanced systems en21 gineering and system integration methods to identify 

22 critical interfaces; and 

23 (13) utilize marine resources in the Gulf of Mex24 ico, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Pacific Ocean. 


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1 (b) SITING CRITERIA.—The Secretary, in conjunction 

2 with other appropriate Federal agencies, shall develop, 

3 prior to installation of any technologies under this section, 

4 siting criteria for marine renewable energy generation dem5 onstration and commercial application projects funded 

6 under this Act. 

7 SEC. 5. NATIONAL MARINE RENEWABLE ENERGY RE8 SEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, AND DEMONSTRA9 TION CENTERS. 

10 (a) CENTERS.—The Secretary, acting through the Na11 tional Renewable Energy Laboratory, shall award grants 

12 to institutions of higher education (or consortia thereof) for 

13 the establishment of 1 or more National Marine Renewable 

14 Energy Research, Development, and Demonstration Cen15 ters. In selecting locations for Centers, the Secretary shall 

16 consider sites that meet one of the following criteria: 

17 (1) Hosts an existing marine renewable energy 

18 research and development program in coordination 

19 with a public university engineering program. 

20 (2) Has proven expertise to support environ21 mental and policy-related issues associated with har22 nessing of energy in the marine environment. 

23 (3) Has access to and utilizes the marine re24 sources in the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic Ocean, or 

25 the Pacific Ocean. 


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1 The Secretary may give special consideration to historically 

2 black colleges and universities and land grant universities 

3 that also meet one of these criteria. In establishing criteria 

4 for the selection of Centers, the Secretary shall coordinate 

5 with the Undersecretary of Commerce for Oceans and At6 mosphere on the criteria related to advancing wave fore7 casting technologies, studying the compatibility with the en8 vironment of marine renewable energy technologies and sys9 tems, and establishing protocols for how the ocean commu10 nity best interacts with marine renewable energy devices 

11 and parks. 

12 (b) PURPOSES.—The Centers shall advance research, 

13 development, demonstration, and commercial application of 

14 marine renewable energy through a number of initiatives 

15 including for the purposes described in section 4(1) through 

16 (13), and shall serve as an information clearinghouse for 

17 the marine renewable energy industry, collecting and dis18 seminating information on best practices in all areas re19 lated to developing and managing enhanced marine renew20 able energy systems resources. 

21 (c) DEMONSTRATION OF NEED.—When applying for a 

22 grant under this section, an applicant shall include a de23 scription of why Federal support is necessary for the Center, 

24 including evidence that the research of the Center will not 

25 be conducted in the absence of Federal support. 


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1 SEC. 6. APPLICABILITY OF OTHER LAWS. 

2 Nothing in this Act shall be construed as waiving the 

3 applicability of any requirement under any environmental 

4 or other Federal or State law. 

5 SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

6 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Sec7 retary to carry out this Act $50,000,000 for each of the fis8 cal years 2008 through 2012, except that no funds shall be 

9 appropriated under this section for activities that are re10 ceiving funds under section 931(a)(2)(E)(i) of the Energy 

11 Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16231(a)(2)(E)(i)). 


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Union Calendar No. 121 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2313 

[Report No. 110

–202] 

A BILL 

To establish research, development, demonstration, 

renewable energy technologies. and commercial application programs for marine 

JUNE 21, 2007 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 


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