Jan. 8, 2013 A new Department of Energy research facility could
help bring the U.S. closer to generating power from the winds
and waters along America's coasts and help alleviate a major
hurdle for offshore wind and ocean power development. Will Shaw,
an atmospheric scientist at DOE's Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory, will describe plans for the facility at an 11:45
a.m. talk today at the 93rd American Meteorological Society
Annual Meeting, which runs through Thursday in Austin, Texas.
The Reference Facility for Offshore Renewable Energy will be
used to test technologies such as remote sensing designed to
determine the power-generating potential of offshore winds and
waters. Research at the facility will help verify that the
technologies can collect reliable data and help improve those
technologies. This knowledge provides potential investors
confidence when reviewing offshore development proposals.
Questions about the accuracy of offshore data from new
measurement technologies have made some investors h