Water Power Technologies Office Peer Review 

Marine and Hydrokinetics Program 

Modular Ocean 

Instrumentation System 

(MOIS)

Eric Nelson 

National Renewable Energy Laboratory 

enelson@nrel.gov 303-384-7155 

February 14-16, 2017

Washington, D.C.

Modular Ocean Instrumentation System, third-generation system 

NREL/PR-5000-68381

NREL is a national laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, operated by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC
2 | Water Program Technologies Office eere.energy.gov

Project Overview

Modular Ocean Instrumentation System (MOIS) Goals: 

Develop or purchase an instrumentation package for on-device 

testing of MHK renewable energy devices, including tidal and wave 

energy devices. System should collect measurement data to 

characterize device performance, validate model and analysis 

codes, assess and improve IEC technical specifications, and 

develop MHK device testing methodology.

The Challenge: In-water deployments of MHK devices is expensive 

and time consuming. Device testing/validation should be rigorous, 

learning as much as possible during the time at sea. 

Partners: Northwest Energy Innovations, wave energy converter 

(WEC) developers, testing partners for MOIS
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Technology 

Maturity

Increase MHK Deployment in Opportune Markets

Deployment 

Barriers

Crosscutting 

Approaches

• Enable access to testing 

facilities that help 

accelerate the pace of 

technology development

• Improve resource 

characterization to 

optimize technologies, 

reduce deployment 

risks, and identify 

promising markets

• Exchange data 

information and 

expertise

• Identify potential 

improvements to 

regulatory processes 

and requirements

• Support research 

focused on retiring or 

mitigating environmental 

risks and reducing costs

• Build awareness of 

MHK technologies

• Ensure MHK interests 

are considered in 

coastal and marine 

planning processes

• Evaluate deployment 

infrastructure needs and 

possible approaches to 

bridge gaps

• Support project 

demonstrations to 

reduce risk and build 

investor confidence

• Assess and 

communicate potential 

MHK market 

opportunities, including 

off-grid and non-electric

• Inform incentives and 

policy measures

• Develop, maintain, and 

communicate our 

national strategy

• Support development of 

standards 

• Expand MHK technical 

and research 

community

Program Strategic Priorities

• Test and demonstrate 

prototypes

• Develop cost-effective 

approaches for 

installation, grid 

integration, and 

operations and 

maintenance

• Conduct R&D for 

innovative MHK 

systems & components

• Develop tools to 

optimize device and 

array performance and 

reliability

• Develop and apply 

quantitative metrics to 

advance MHK 

technologies

Market 

Development
4 | Water Program Technologies Office eere.energy.gov

Technology 

Maturity

Increase MHK Deployment in Opportune Markets

• Test and demonstrate 

prototypes

• Develop cost-effective 

approaches for installation, grid 

integration, and operations and 

maintenance

• Conduct R&D for innovative MHK 

systems & components

• Develop tools to optimize device 

and array performance and 

reliability

• Develop and apply quantitative 

metrics to advance MHK 

technologies

Project Strategic Alignment

The Impact

• Develop/purchase instrumentation 

packages that are readily fitted to MHK 

devices, including wave and tidal

• Evaluate MHK devices using common 

instrumentation suite, regardless of 

technology

• Characterize MHK device performance

• Validate modeling and analysis codes

• Test devices to IEC technical specifications

• Develop and refine testing methodologies 

for MHK devices
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MOIS’s capabilities for testing MHK devices has evolved by using at-sea

deployments for development feedback and system readiness checks. 

 Gen 1 Gen 2 Gen 3 Photos Eric Nelson, NREL

• Utilized at-sea testing to gain feedback for subsequent MOIS designs

• Improved capabilities on each generation: channel count, sample rate, remote 

administration, and self monitoring

• Deployed MOIS Gen 2 system at sea in May 2015 on the WEC Azura; still 

deployed presently and continuously collecting measurement data

• Completed MOIS Gen 3 system in FY15 with designs and manuals uploaded to 

the MHK Data Repository

Technical Approach
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Accomplishments and Progress

Open Ocean Testing of WEC Azura at U.S. Navy’s WETS Facility 

Northwest Energy Innovations 

tests and evaluates the half-scale WEC 

Azura, 30-m test site. Gen 2 MOIS 

hardware was deployed on May 31, 2015. 

On-device measurements are compared 

to WEC-Sim device model results in plots. 

Photo Steve Kopf, NWEI Photo Steve Kopf, NWEI

Image Brad Ling, NWEI
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Accomplishments and Progress

MOIS Gen 3 System Completed

• Increased channel count, sample rate, and measurement types are supported

• Has less power consumption compared to earlier generations

• Can be submerged more than 80-m deep

• Has remote antennae ports for GPS, Cell, and WIFI communications

• Can store up to 500 GB of data onboard

• User and software manuals are available

Photo Eric Nelson, NREL
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Project Plan and Schedule

• FY14: MOIS Gen 2 preparation for deployment at sea

• Go/no-go FY14: schedule delays for WEC Azura, given a go

• FY15: MOIS Gen 2 installed on WEC Azura (at sea May 

2015)

• FY15: MOIS Gen 3 completed, built, and documented

• FY16: Azura deployment planned to end in FY16 but was 

extended due to ongoing deployment of WEC Azura at the 

U.S. Navy’s WETS facility in Hawaii

• January 2017: WEC Azura retrofit with next generation float 

and other hardware at WETS is scheduled
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Project Budget

• Project spending was slowed in Q3 FY14 due to 

schedule delays in the deployment of WEC Azura at 

WETS (MOIS Gen 2 equipment on WEC)

• Finalized build of Gen 3 MOIS system in Q2 FY15

• WEC Azura installed at WETS in May 2015

• WEC Azura deployment was extended, resulting in 

funds that were originally planned for decommissioning 

to be used for ongoing testing operations

• All funds for project have been spent

Budget History

FY2014 FY2015 FY2016

DOE Cost Share DOE Cost Share DOE Cost Share

$101K N/A $186K N/A $36K N/A
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Research Integration & Collaboration

Partners, Subcontractors, and Collaborators: 

• Northwest Energy Innovations is using MOIS’s measurements for 

model validation analysis on their Azura WEC device.

• Hawaii Natural Energy Institute (University of Hawaii) is using data from 

MOIS for real-time location monitoring of the Azura WEC and also 

helping with data management of MOIS.

• Columbia Power Technologies and Big Moon Power are utilizing MOIS 

components for their tests.

Communications and Technology Transfer: 

• MOIS design documents have been uploaded to the DOE MHK Data 

Repository for public use.

• The MOIS CAD models and software have been uploaded.

• The user manual and software development manuals are included. 

• Project CAD and software are at 

https://mhkdr.openei.org/submissions/64. 

• Outcome: Project documents downloaded 250+ times.
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Next Steps and Future Research

FY17/Current Research: 

• The MOIS project transitioned in FY16 from a development 

to a mission-readiness effort. The remaining funds were 

moved to Testing Facilities and Capabilities at NWTC in 

FY17.

• MOIS will remain on WEC Azura with measurements for 

evaluating updated device performance in FY17 at WETS

Proposed Future Research: 

• Maintain equipment and instrumentation for use in testing 

MHK devices in the water

• Support DOE demonstrations of full-scale devices at sea