AMEC and TEAMER Marine Energy Testing Community Collaboration workshops
The Marine Energy Testing Community Collaboration workshops, co-hosted by the AMEC Stakeholder Engagement team (Coastal Studies Institute, NC) and TEAMER in February and March of 2023, brought together individuals representing and utilizing marine testing facilities to share experiences and challenges. These workshops were held in response to an overwhelming need AMEC Universe members expressed for connection among individuals involved in aquatic energy testing. The goals of the workshops were to make sense of the landscape of marine energy testing and help the community to connect and identify gaps in the field. Over 35 participants across numerical modeling, bench testing, tank experimentation, and open water testing came together to exchange ideas. The two workshops, held on February 14, 2023, and March 3, 2023, revealed a diversity of experiences, opportunities, and concerns as well as several common themes, which are reflected in the respective visuals created by Viola Clark as she listened to the conversations and read break-out group responses to workshop prompts.
Graphic Recording from the February 14, 2023, virtual Marine Energy Testing Community Collaboration Workshop. Created by Viola Clark.
Graphic Recording from the March 3, 2023, virtual Marine Energy Testing Community Collaboration Workshop. Created by Viola Clark.
Key themes discussed during both workshops revolved around scale within marine energy testing. The key themes are depicted in the word cloud below where the size of each theme corresponds to its frequency of use with larger words and phrases indicating more frequently referenced codes. Participants reflected on experiences of scaling up from smaller projects and scaling between various categories of marine energy testing. While several comments addressed the theme of scale, they were not exclusively limited to it. Other comments touched upon interconnected aspects such as data sharing, business commercialization, project management, and integration. Notably, the importance of collaboration and effective communication of failures emerged as strategic approaches to overcome the challenges posed by scaling within the marine energy testing domain.
Results of Qualitative Coding of textual responses recorded during both sessions of the virtual Marine Energy Testing Community Collaboration Workshop, depicted as a word cloud, where the font size of each code indicates code frequency.
Needs and Challenges in the Marine Energy Testing Community: Findings from the Marine Energy Testing Community Collaboration Workshops (click on image for the document)