UH Manoa's Hawaii Natural Energy Institute receives $5 million federal grant to establish a National Marine Renewable Energy Center in Hawaii

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
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Posted: Sep 24, 2008

HONOLULU - The Hawaii Natural Energy Institute (HNEI) of the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa has been selected to establish one of two National Marine Renewable Energy Centers by the U.S. Department of Energy.The Department of Energy will provide a grant of approximately $1 million per year for up to five years to conduct renewable energy research and development of technologies that harness the power of waves and ocean thermal energy conversion. This grant for HNEI is further recognition of the institute‘s ability to conduct high quality research in many fields involving energy development, with the potential for groundbreaking applications.

These centers are public-private partnerships that will assess and evaluate the viability and cost-competitiveness of using advanced water power systems. The center in Hawaii will serve as a national information clearinghouse for the marine renewable energy industry that will collect and disseminate information on best practices in research.

This grant was made possible by U.S. Senator Daniel K. Akaka provisions implemented into law as part of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (H.R. 6). The Department of Energy is expected to award HNEI $978,048 later this year and exact funding will be determined for subsequent years thereafter.For more information, see the news release from Senator Akaka's office.