I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2313 

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 

A BILL 

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

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 

10 sources of energy in order to reduce other environmstockstill on PROD1PC66 with BILLS

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1 mental impacts of energy production, increase na2 tional security, improve public health, and bolster 

3 economic stability. 

4 (2) Marine renewable energy is a nonpolluting 

5 energy resource. 

6 (3) Marine renewable energy may serve as an 

7 alternative to fossil fuels and create thousands of 

8 new jobs within the United States. 

9 (4) Europe has already successfully delivered 

10 electricity to the grid through the deployment of 

11 wave and tidal energy devices off the coast of Scot12 land. 

13 (5) Recent studies from the Electric Power Re14 search Institute, in conjunction with the Department 

15 of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 

16 have identified an abundance of viable sites within 

17 the United States with ample wave, tidal, and ther18 mal resources to be harnessed by marine power tech19 nologies. 

20 (6) Sustained and expanded research, develop21 ment, demonstration, and commercial application 

22 programs are needed to locate and characterize ma23 rine renewable energy resources, and to develop the 

24 technologies that will enable their widespread com25 mercial development. 

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1 (7) Federal support is critical to reduce the fi2 nancial risk associated with developing new marine 

3 renewable energy technologies, thereby encouraging 

4 the private sector investment necessary to make ma5 rine renewable energy resources commercially viable 

6 as a source of electric power and for other applica7 tions. 

8 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

9 For purposes of this Act— 

10 (1) MARINE RENEWABLE ENERGY.—The term 

11 ‘‘Marine Renewable Energy’’ means energy derived 

12 from one or more of the following sources: 

13 (A) Waves. 

14 (B) Tidal flows. 

15 (C) Ocean currents. 

16 (D) Ocean thermal energy conversion. 

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

18 the Secretary of Energy. 

19 SEC. 4. MARINE RENEWABLE ENERGY RESEARCH AND DE20 VELOPMENT. 

21 The Secretary shall support programs of research, 

22 development, demonstration, and commercial application 

23 to expand the use of marine renewable energy production 

24 from marine renewable energy technology systems, includ25 ing programs to— 

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1 (1) explore and compare existing marine renew2 able energy extraction technologies; 

3 (2) research, develop, and demonstrate ad4 vanced marine renewable energy systems and tech5 nologies; 

6 (3) reduce the manufacturing and operation 

7 costs of marine renewable energy technologies; 

8 (4) investigate efficient and reliable integration 

9 with the utility grid and intermittency issues; 

10 (5) advance wave forecasting technologies; 

11 (6) conduct experimental and numerical mod12 eling for device and marine energy conversion device 

13 array optimization; 

14 (7) increase the reliability and survivability of 

15 marine renewable energy facilities; 

16 (8) study the compatibility with the environ17 ment of marine renewable energy technologies and 

18 systems; 

19 (9) establish protocols for how the ocean com20 munity best interacts with marine renewable energy 

21 devices and parks; 

22 (10) develop marine renewable energy power 

23 measurement and identification standards; and 

24 (11) address standards development, dem25 onstration, and technology transfer for advanced 

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1 systems engineering and system integration methods 

2 to identify critical interfaces. 

3 SEC. 5. NATIONAL MARINE RENEWABLE ENERGY RE4 SEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, AND DEMONSTRA5 TION CENTERS. 

6 (a) CENTERS.—The Secretary, acting through the 

7 National Renewable Energy Laboratory, shall award 

8 grants to institutions of higher education (or consortia 

9 thereof) for the establishment of 1 or more National Ma10 rine Renewable Energy Research, Development, and Dem11 onstration Centers. In selecting locations for Centers, the 

12 Secretary shall choose at least 1 site from among sites 

13 that host an existing marine renewable energy research 

14 and development program in coordination with a public 

15 university engineering program. 

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

17 development, demonstration, and commercial application 

18 of marine renewable energy through a number of initia19 tives including for the purposes described in section 4(1) 

20 through (11), and shall serve as an information clearing21 house for the marine renewable energy industry, collecting 

22 and disseminating information on best practices in all 

23 areas related to developing and managing enhanced ma24 rine renewable energy systems resources. 

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1 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

2 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Sec3 retary to carry out this Act $50,000,000 for each of the 

4 fiscal years 2008 through 2012. 

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