Progress of Marine Energy Test Sites and Its Inspiration

Technology readiness level and reliability of marine energy need to be validated through at-sea experiments. Marine energy test site (METS) would be a professional public testing platform for at-sea experiments. In this paper, the development of marine energy technologies is introduced. We can know that tidal current energy and wave energy technologies are at the stage of pre-commercialization, which need to be tested and validated at sea. Internationally representative METSs in UK, US, Japan and et al. are introduced. Their progress and achievements are analyzed. Then construction progress of METSs of China is summarized, and their functions as well. Through analyzing progress of METSs in China and other countries, we can get some inspiration, which is about support from policies and funds, body for construction and operation, streamlined procedure for permit, and etc.. It can be concluded that we should give more support to METSs of China, which are constructed and operated normatively and internationally. It will help to break down the barriers at the stage of pre-commercialization of tidal current energy and wave energy devices. Technology development and transfer in marine energy will accordingly be promoted.