Florida Atlantic University’s Southeast National Marine Renewable Energy Center (SNMREC) seeks to advance the science and technology of recovering energy from the oceans’ renewable resources, with special emphasis on those resources available to the southeastern US: initially focusing on ocean currents and offshore thermal resources. By playing a leadership role, SNMREC helps promote economic development and energy independence for the region and nation.

Today’s SNMREC has evolved much since its early roots. Prior to 2006, before federal or state regulators (or even the public) were generally aware of the value of converting the motion of the oceans into electricity, a handful of inventors and pioneers were working with FAU to solve associated engineering challenges. FAU’s Ocean Engineers successfully pitched the idea of a State of Florida Center of Excellence to solve technical issues for marine energy and formalized FAU’s then role in the industry. It became apparent that the nascent marine energy industry needed more than just engineering solutions for commercial utility-scale projects to become a reality. The state center became more engaged with non-engineering topics (policy, regulation, environmental assessment, etc.) and was officially recognized in 2010 as one of three national centers by the U.S. Department of Energy for its fit with DOE’s strategy to support marine renewables – a holistic approach driven by the ambition to get projects “into the water” to demonstrate viability.

The Center embraced this approach and looked to provide test and prototyping opportunities, R&D solutions offering both immediate impact and industry-wide value, trail blaze regulatory and policy pathways, and characterize offshore natural resources that offer energy capture opportunities.