The New England MREC is an organization comprised of academia, government agencies, industry, municipalities, public interest groups and concerned individuals. MREC’s focus is to foster the development of ocean based renewable energy (wave, tidal, current and ocean wind). MREC is developing a network of technology developers and energy users who will collectively define the needs of this nascent industry and work to bring together the required technology, capital, infrastructure, human resources to implement ocean renewable energy in the most sustainable manner for the region.
Our Purpose
To foster the Growth of Marine Renewable Energy; Tidal, Wave, Offshore wind and others in New England through research, Development and Demonstration.
Vision – 20/20
MREC’s vision is that by the year 2020, a significant percentage of the electricity used in New England will be provided by ocean renewable energy and this power will be from more than one resource.
Mission
The New England Marine Renewable Energy Center (MREC) is an organization that involves all stakeholders (Academic, industry, governmental/regulatory, commercial/recreational users of ocean resources and other public interest groups) to promote the sustainable development of renewable energy in New England ocean waters.
Inherent in the MREC mission are the following objectives:
| 1) | A world class university research consortium to encourage collaboration, cooperation and education for marine renewable research. |
| 2) | Permanent ocean test sites to facilitate research and demonstration of ocean based renewable technologies. |
| 3) | An industry user group to elicit research needs, and to assist in advocating for public and private development support. |
| 4) | Involvement of regulatory and environmental public interest groups to ensure ocean development standards minimize impact to the ocean ecosystem. |
| 5) | Education and training to support the marine renewable energy industry. |
MREC Back ground
Since its establishment in 2007; MREC has held three conferences to bring all parties together to learn about the different technologies that are being used in other parts of the world, to learn about the policies and planning issues that must be considered to enable these ocean energy systems to operate in state and federal waters; to understand what are the concerns of all stakeholders and to create a foundation on which to build an industry.
1st Annual Ocean Energy for New England Conference took place on October 6, 2008 at the Advanced Technology and Manufacturing Center in Fall River, Massachusetts. Over 180 attended from industry, academia and government.
Click here to see all event presentations.
After the 1st Annual Ocean Energy for NE Conference it was clear that there needed to be a conference dedicated purely to the engineering and technologies required to extract energy from the ocean waters and from the winds offshore. Therefore the 1st Annual MREC Technical Conference was created. The research community was invited to submit abstracts for technical presentations. Those abstracts were reviewed by experts. The resulting presentations and expanded abstracts were presented at the event on October 15, 2009. Click here for more.
2nd Annual Ocean Energy for New England Conference took place on September 17, 2009 at the Cape Codder Resort and Spa in Hyannis, Massachusetts. The event attracted over 120 individuals from government, policy and planning organizations; grid integration providers; a trade and construction represent and public interest groups. Click here for more.
