AMEC 2022 highlights
2022 was the first full year of operation for the Atlantic Marine Energy Center (AMEC), a new National Marine Renewable Energy Center. We successfully ramped up operations and research tasks.
The Atlantic Marine Energy Center (AMEC) is a research hub for marine energy technology development, with a focus on wave and tidal energy. AMEC is a collaboration between the University of New Hampshire (UNH), Stony Brook University (SBU), Lehigh University, the Coastal Studies Institute (CSI) of North Carolina, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy through the Water Power Technology Office (WPTO). We're dedicated to research, testing, and developing solutions for marine energy and powering the blue economy applications. AMEC collaborates with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) and the European Marine Energy Center (EMEC) on various research tasks.
In 2022, we made significant strides in building the foundations for our organization, hiring a talented team, and engaging with key stakeholders. We have continued to build strong partnerships with national labs, the private sector, coastal communities, and our peers in research. We've created a visually engaging cloud-based registry that showcases our objectives and provides an easy way to connect with new partners.
We have also shared our expertise and progress at marine energy-related events, conferences, and meetings, including:
• National Hydropower Association (NHA) Water Power Week, April 5-7, 2022, Washington DC
• University Marine Energy Research Community (UMERC) and Marine Energy Technology Symposium (METS) conference, September 13-14, 2022, Portland, OR
• International WaTERS 2022, October 13-14, 2022, Spain
• International Conference on Ocean Energy (ICOE), October 18-20, 2022, Spain
• UNH-DOE National Lab Day, October 27-28, 2022, Durham, NH
One of our accomplishments this past year was developing a more efficient method for modeling the turbulent flows around marine turbines using reduced-order models and convolutional neural networks. The results are being published in prestigious journals such as Computers & Fluids, Environmental Fluid Mechanics, and Physics of Fluids by AMEC Co-Director Ali Khosronejad and collaborators.
2022 and ramping up AMEC has not been without challenges, including supply chain issues, inflation, and unexpected regulatory obstacles.
As we look to 2023, we look forward to announcing the creation of our Advisory Board, continue engaging with stakeholders, and leading quarterly technical meetings. We will prioritize education and workforce development by launching the AMEC seminar series. We will continue with upgrading our infrastructure and capabilities, including the following:
• Axial flow turbine test bed for the Towing Tank, and instrumentation for the open-water Tidal Energy Test Site at Memorial Bridge at UNH
• Digital Twinning via Computational Fluid Dynamics, Smart Mobile Grids, and Power Conversion at SBU
• Water Tunnel Speed Up, Fatigue Test Rig, Soil Foundation Test Rig at Lehigh
• Jeannette's Pier Wave Energy Test Site at CSI
AMEC thanks all our researchers, staff, students, and collaborators for their contributions in the past year. Let's make 2023 a year of partnership and progress!
“La Concha” Beach, San Sebastian, just before sunset. October 2022
This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), specifically the Water Power Technology Office under award number DE-EE0009450.