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“INTRODUCTION OF THE MARINE RENEWABLE ENERGY PROMOTION ACT OF 2009” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Energy was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E1003 on April 28, 2009.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
INTRODUCTION OF THE MARINE RENEWABLE ENERGY PROMOTION ACT OF 2009
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HON. JAY INSLEE
of washington
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Mr. INSLEE. Madam Speaker, I rise today to introduce the Marine Renewable Energy Promotion Act of 2009, a bill to promote the development of renewable energy from our oceans and rivers, using the tides, currents, waves and even the thermal properties of our oceans to generate electricity. I thank Senator Murkowski for introducing a Senate companion to this important measure.
Marine and hydrokinetic devices offer the potential to capture energy from waves, tides, ocean currents, and the natural flow of water in rivers, as well as marine thermal gradients, without building new dams or diversions. The potential for this energy is tremendous. The Electric Power Research Institute has estimated that ocean resources in the United States could generate 252 million megawatt hours of electricity, which given as much support as other types of renewable energy, could be equivalent to 6.5 percent of America's entire electricity generation.
Currently, Washington State companies, universities, research institutions and public utilities are working to bring affordable, reliable and abundant electricity to major urban load centers located near Puget Sound.
For example, the Department of Energy designated the Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center, run by the University of Washington and Oregon State University, to develop tidal and wave research projects. Additionally, the Department of Energy's Marine Sciences Laboratory on the Olympic Peninsula assesses waterpower resource potential to address and remove environmental roadblocks to deployment, testing to accelerate the integration of large-scale waterpower electricity generation into the Northwest power grid, and is essential to establishing a robust basis for industrial investment based on verifiable technology performance, assured cost basis, and environmental performance. Furthermore, two entities in Washington State are further along in deploying tidal energy turbines than anyone else in the United States. Both Verdant Power, in partnership with the U.S. Navy, and the Snohomish County Public Utility District, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy, are well underway in their research and development of tidal energy in the Puget Sound and should be seen as test beds for the nation.
The Marine Renewable Energy Promotion Act will accelerate these efforts by establishing a research, development and demonstration program at the Department of Energy that is specifically devoted to marine and hydrokinetic renewable energy. This office will help to develop new marine renewable energy technologies, increase reliability and durability of facilities, reduce manufacturing and operating costs of the devices, help identify and address environmental impacts of marine renewable energy and make sure that such power can be integrated into the national electricity grid.
Importantly, the bill authorizes federal funding for a Marine-based Energy Device Verification Program, which will bridge the gap between design and development efforts and the commercial deployment of marine renewable energy devices. Funds would facilitate the installation and evaluation of marine renewable energy projects in partnership with appropriate federal research institutions and organizations. Information learned will be available for the benefit of utilities, independent power producers, generators, and others in the marine renewable energy development community.
Further, the bill establishes an Adaptive Management and Environmental fund to provide grants for entities to help pay for the regulatory permitting and development of new marine technologies.
Finally, the bill would allow marine energy to qualify for the existing accelerated depreciation tax benefit, which essentially allows marine projects to accelerate the depreciation of their project costs over five years and will help enhance project economic returns for private developers.
I urge my colleagues to consider this important bill.
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