Marine Energy Atlas

The Marine Energy Atlas is an interactive mapping application developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to help explore potential for marine and hydrokinetic resources.

Developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL's) resource characterization team and funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's Water Power Technologies Office, the Marine Energy Atlas (formerly MHK Atlas) supports everything from project siting to device design via access to uniquely high-resolution and spatially comprehensive data sets.

The Marine Energy Atlas was initially developed in order to visually represent the results of the Electric Power Research Institute's Mapping and Assessment of the United States Ocean Wave Energy Resource and Lockheed Martin's Ocean Thermal Extractable Energy Visualization (OTEEV). Powered by multi-lab, high-resolution data sets, the atlas maps U.S. wave, tidal, riverine current, ocean current, and ocean thermal resources.

Instructions for using the tool (including how to use the map layers and how to download data) are available from the Marine Energy Atlas website. The 2021 released Marine Energy Atlas features several new upgrades to modernize and streamline the user-friendly interface while supporting higher-resolution data. The new high-resolution wave data sets were developed at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, North Carolina State University, and University of Hawai'i under a project led by NREL. These enhancements will boost both the usability and the value of this important marine energy tool.

Wave energy potential is mapped along U.S. coastlines, including Hawaii, Puerto Rico and portions of Alaska. App users can explore several variables used in the wave energy assessment such as: wave power density, wave height, wave energy period, and wave hindcast direction. Data for each variable can be viewed as annual or monthly averages as well as downloaded with a 3-hour timestep for further analysis. Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion and seawater cooling resources are mapped globally. Available data layers can display numerous variables used in the assessment including: net power, delta-t, sea surface temperature, plant spacing estimates and the depth at which specified water temperatures can be found for sea water cooling. The assessment data can also be used in conjunction with political boundaries, such as Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ).