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www.sea-technology.com October 2015 / st 61 EU Grant to Improve Oyster Performance Aquamarine Power and the Na- tional University of Ireland, Maynooth (NUIM) have secured an €800,000 EU Horizon 2020 grant to improve the per- formance of Aquamarine Power's Oys- ter wave energy converter. The company has already built and operated two full-scale Oyster ma- chines at the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney, Scotland. The INNOWAVE program will en- able three Ph.D. researchers to explore ways to optimize the energy capture and economic performance of Oyster. One project will look at all aspects of Oyster design from an economic per- spective, measured over the lifetime of a wave energy project. The other two projects will look at the development and implementation of control systems applicable to shore- based and offshore power take-off sys- tems. The grant follows the announcement of £2 million of funding from Wave En- ergy Scotland to Aquamarine Power, Bosch Rexroth and Carnegie Wave En- ergy to complete testing of their scale prototype and deliver the design and specifcation for a full-scale prototype WavePOD offshore power take-off sys- tem. LNG Fuel Forum On Maritime Challenges The industry forum "LNG as a Ma- rine Fuel: Addressing the Challenges" was held in conjunction with London International Shipping Week 2015. It explored the commercial and environ- mental advantages of using LNG as a fuel, challenges associated with in- creasing adoption and implications for the future. Among the topics discussed were: development of an innovative gas supply vessel that will support LNG- fueled ships and delivery of gas to small onshore facilities and large off- pipe consumers; frst-mover advantage, economies of scale and the impact of regulation and oil prices on the com- mercial viability of using LNG as a ma- rine fuel; the importance of legislation and corresponding economic factors; importance of maintaining the current safety record in the LNG sector; and improved and new training approaches to improve the competence of talent in the gas sector. US Ocean, Great Lakes Economy Surpasses GDP The U.S. ocean economy outpaced the domestic economy between 2011 and 2012, with an increase of $22 bil- lion in gross domestic product, from $321 billion to $343 billion, according to a new NOAA analysis. This increase equates to a 10.5 per- cent rate of growth—more than four times faster than the U.S. economy as a whole. The report is based on 2012 U.S. national economic statistics released in August 2014. Five of the six ocean economy sec- tors grew faster than the national aver- age of 2.5 percent. Offshore mineral extraction grew most dramatically of all. The study looked at coastal marine construction, living resources, offshore mineral extraction, ship and boat build- ing, tourism and recreation, and marine transportation. NOAA's 2012 Report on the U.S. Ocean and Great Lakes Economy shows how dependent local busi- nesses are on the U.S. ocean and Great Lakes. In 2012, these sectors employed 2.9 million people—more than crop production, telecommu- nication, and building construction combined. The U.S. ocean and Great Lakes economy covers six sectors in 30 coast- al states. Kuwait Joins Ramsar Convention on Wetlands Kuwait has become the 169th con- tracting party of the Ramsar Conven- tion on Wetlands. The Convention came into force in Kuwait in Septem- ber. Kuwait announced the designation of the Mubarak Al-Kabeer Reserve onto the List of Wetlands of Interna- tional Importance (Ramsar Sites). The site becomes the latest addi- tion to more than 2,200 Ramsar Sites around the world, considered to be of international importance because of the valuable ecosystem services and benefts they provide to people and the environment. CSEM Survey of Gas Hydrates Complete Ocean Floor Geophysics Ltd. (OFG), in cooperation with Fukada Salvage and Marine Works Co. Ltd. (Fukada), has completed another high-resolution CSEM survey of near-surface gas hy- drates using the Scripps Institution of Oceanography Vulcan system for the National Institute of Advanced Indus- trial Science and Technology (AIST) in Japanese waters. Following the successful 3D CSEM survey and inversion models complet- ed in 2014, the 2015 survey comprises more than 670 line km of high-resolu- tion data. A 3D inversion of the EM data for an area of interest for this year's sur- vey has been completed. The contract for the 3D inversion of the data for the entire 2015 survey area has also been awarded to OFG and will be completed in November this year. World's Largest OTEC Plant Opens in Hawaii Makai Ocean Engineering celebrat- ed the completion of the world's larg- est operational ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) power plant with a dedication ceremony at the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority (NELHA). Makai's OTEC power plant uses the temperature difference between the ocean's cold deep water and warm sur- face water to generate clean, renewable electricity that is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The NELHA-sited plant will generate 100 kW of sustain- able, continuous electricity—enough to power 120 Hawaii homes annually. The breakthrough marks the frst true closed-cycle OTEC plant to be connect- ed to a U.S. electrical grid, and repre- sents a major achievement for Hawaii, the U.S. and marine renewable energy. The research and development at the plant was funded by the U.S. Offce of Naval Research (ONR) through the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute (HNEI), and the infrastructure was funded by Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC). Accrued electricity revenues from this power plant will sustain research and development of OTEC technology. A potential next phase for OTEC de- velopment at NELHA is being consid- ered by an international consortium un- der the Okinawa-Hawaii clean energy agreement. ST marine resources