Integral Awarded NREL Contracts for Renewable Wave Energy

Integral Consulting Inc. has been awarded two contracts with the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). As part of a 3-year multi-laboratory research project, Integral’s Marine Science and Engineering group is deploying equipment to collect high-fidelity wave measurement data.

To date, Integral has installed equipment for NREL at two locations off the Oregon coast, and performed an additional deployment off the Northern California coast in September 2017. The instruments are being used to collect long-term wave data to support wave resource characterization, model validation, and establishment of a wave classification scheme in regions and sites where early wave energy converter deployments are likely.

The overall project is designed to help accelerate the development of marine and hydrokinetic energy in the U.S.

This work was described in a recent article issued by NREL that is available on NREL’s website. Real-time data for buoys in Lakeside and Reedsport, Oregon, and Fort Bragg, California, can be viewed on the Coastal Data Information Program website.

Grace Chang, Ph.D., is Integral’s principal investigator for the marine and hydrokinetic research, and Frank Spada is Integral’s field manager. Dr. Chang and Mr. Spada have more than 20 years of experience with field operations, scientific research, and ocean technology development.

Integral’s Marine Science and Engineering group has extensive experience in the deployment, maintenance, and recovery of oceanographic monitoring surface buoys, buoy-mooring systems, and seabed bottom-mount platforms.