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www.sea-technology.com February 2016 / st 73 maintaining instrumentation at marine energy sites along with technology from the cabled ocean observatories devel- oped by the UW Applied Physics Labo- ratory (APL-UW). As a cabled platform, the iAMP al- lows for real-time monitoring and data processing. The power and data back- bone can accommodate most oceano- graphic sensors (pretty much anything that requires DC power and can com- municate over a cable). Integration of these instruments and real-time data processing enables intelligent event triggering and target handoff that reduce data storage costs incurred by continu- ous archiving of sensor data. To simplify the maintenance opera- tions associated with a cabled system (and the need for system refnement through the adaptive management pro- cess), the iAMP includes a wet-mate power and fber connector and is de- ployed to a subsea docking station by an ROV called the "Millennium" Falcon, built around a stock Saab Seaeye Fal- con inspection-class ROV. The "Millen- nium" system is customized for iAMP deployments at tidal and wave energy sites, for example, with increased thrust capability and a payload bay to hold the iAMP securely until it can be connected to the docking station. From January to March 2016, the iAMP is scheduled for deployment at the PNNL Marine Science Laboratory in Sequim Bay, Washington, for an endur- ance test and to evaluate target trigger- ing algorithms. In 2016 and 2017, an autonomous version of the iAMP will be developed for sites without cabled infrastructure to allow for continuity of methods between pre- and post-instal- lation monitoring at marine renewable energy projects. MarineSitu, a new company spinoff from the University of Washington, has been founded to offer these environ- mental monitoring capabilities. Provid- ing services to deploy instrumentation and collect information to identify and retire risks will reduce the cost and complexity of environmental moni- toring. Companies like ours are in a unique position to address the evolving needs of a vibrant and sustainable ma- rine renewable energy industry. ST identify or retire the highest priority risks. Oceanographic sensing capabili- ties have advanced tremendously over the past decade, with cabled observa- tories providing unparalleled data from the oceans. Unfortunately, acquiring these data have obvious and hidden costs. Let's say, for example, that a tidal energy project developer wants to ad- dress the risk of marine animal collision with an operating turbine. This might in- clude active sonars and passive acous- tics for animal detection, paired with optical cameras for short-range species identifcation. Running such a system continuously for a year would produce over 1 petabyte of data, or a metric ton of terabyte hard drives. Because of these challenges, to date, the small number of marine energy projects that have successfully deployed have relied on complex custom moni- toring systems. These are often outside the core project or technology develop- ment pathways for marine renewable energy. Under the auspices of the North- west National Marine Renewable En- ergy Center (NNMREC), researchers at the University of Washington have been developing innovative methods to address these industry needs for ad- vanced marine monitoring capabilities. From the Center's foundation in 2008 to 2013, Professors Brian Polagye and Jim Thomson deployed and maintained sea spiders equipped with an evolving suite of autonomous instrumentation in Puget Sound, Washington. This effort started as a tidal energy resource assess- ment and was continued to establish a baseline of the environmental condi- tions at the site for a future tidal energy deployment. During this same period, Thomson developed the SWIFT drifter to collect data on surface waves, cur- rents and acoustics. These sea spiders and SWIFT drifters have also been de- ployed at marine energy sites in Alaska, Hawaii, Oregon and Chile. In 2013, I was part of a team that set out to build a cabled, easily recover- able instrumentation platform designed for marine energy monitoring. Dubbed the Intelligent Adaptable Monitoring Package, or iAMP, this system leverages our previous experience deploying and James Joslin received his doctorate from the University of Washington and his master's and bach- elor's degrees from Dartmouth College. As a researcher at APL-UW and a founder of MarineSitu, he works on both the technology and business development of the iAMP and other marine monitoring technologies. Professor Brian Po- lagye and Dr. Andy Stewart are co-founders of MarineSitu. P roposals to deploy devices that can convert the power in ocean waves and tides to renewable electricity in- evitably raise a corollary question: Will these devices cause environmental harm? Even for renewable energy projects, precaution is certainly warranted given the existing stresses that human activi- ties have placed on the oceans. The ini- tial answer to the question was: We can tell you after we deploy pilot projects. This, while honest, required regulatory agencies to shoulder signifcant risk in case a pilot project did cause environ- mental harm. This resulted in a "chicken and egg" problem in which device de- ployment was recognized as the best way to reduce uncertainty around envi- ronmental risks, but deployment could not be authorized if uncertainty was high. The solution has been "adaptive management" for project proponents and regulatory agencies to responsibly identify signifcant risks and retire those proven to be insignifcant. Good news for proponents of devel- opment? Sort of. Environmental risks range from individual marine animal interactions with a device to ecosystem interactions. While adaptive manage- ment allows project developers and regulators to prioritize the highest risk interactions and bite off manageable chunks of the problem at a single time, the environmental monitoring solution chosen by the project developer needs to be nimble and adaptable. Further, answering these questions often re- quires multiple sensors to act in con- cert, as no single data stream is likely to provide the information required to soap box Evaluating Environmental Risks for Marine Renewable Energy—James Joslin