Early deployments of wave and tidal energy projects are beginning to supply information on environmental effects of the devices, moorings, and power cables; these data will help inform later deployments and guide regulatory scrutiny as the industry makes the leap to commercial scale. In the United States, the U.S. Department of Energy sponsors research in support of U.S. renewable ocean energy development, through their national laboratories, universities, and industry partners. The U.S. also leads the Ocean Energy Systems- Implementing Agreement Annex IV, a collaborative study among member nations to bring together and assess information on environmental effects of renewable ocean energy. Information gathered to support U.S. development, as well as that of Annex IV, is hosted by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) on a public website known as Tethys, making results and analyses broadly available for the benefit of the industry, regulators and stakeholders worldwide. This paper introduces the Tethys website and Annex IV database, as well as reporting on the latest findings on the effects of EMF, turbine noise, and analysis of turbine blade strike on marine animals.
