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www.sname.org/sname/mt July 2013 of time and expense. Similarly, standards and certifications can guide project developers through technology selection and commercial feasibility analyses by identifying risks and pro- viding means to eliminate or gain protection from them. The MRE industry has estab- lished these as guiding principles of standards development and conformity assessment to maximize the chances that ocean energy con- version technologies become part of our clean, renewable energy future. Development work Since 2007, the United States has been actively engaged as a key participant in the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) Technical Committee 114 (TC-114), which is developing and maintaining tech- nical specifications and standards for wave, current, tidal, and ocean thermal energy resource characterization and con- version device performance assessment. Along with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), IEC is a premier worldwide developer and publisher of spec- ications and standards and, as such, has a strict mandate to ensure that engineering systems developed anywhere in the world are held to consistent and well-understood design and operating principles. TC-114 has 22 member countries in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. All o- cial communications between the United States and the IEC with respect to TC-114 business are required to be routed through the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), which serves as e United States National Committee. To conduct day-to-day activities related to representing the United States on TC-114, ANSI has approved the for- mation of a technical advisory group (TAG). Among other things, the TAG recommends appointments to various sub-committees, coordinates communications among TAG members, provides periodic progress reports, and assists in the creation and management of the TAG operating budget. All members of the U.S. TAG must be dues-paying mem- bers of ANSI in order to participate in TC-114 activities. At present, there are approximately 40 members of the U.S. TAG who serve on one or more of the 11 sub-committees (called shadow committees, or SC) that are devel- oping technical specications and standards. Marine energy technical specications and standards are being developed in 11 areas as follows: ? PT62600-1: Terminology ? PT62600-2: Design requirements for marine energy systems? PT62600-10: Assessment of mooring sys- tems for marine energy converters ? PT62600-20: Guideline for design assess- ment of ocean thermal energy conversion systems? PT62600-30: Electrical power quality requirements for wave, tidal, and other water current energy converters ? PT62600-100: Assessment of performance of wave energy converters in open sea ? PT62600-101: Wave energy resource char- acterization and assessment ? PT62600-102: Wave energy converter power performance assessment at a second loca- tion using measured assessment data ? PT62600-103: Wave energy conversion scale testing? PT62600-200: Power performance assess- ment of electricity producing tidal energy converters ? PT62600-201: Tidal energy resource charac- terization and assessment. Each standard is developed by a project team (PT), which is made up of participating countries that have inter- est and expertise in the specific subject matter. A minimum of four participating countries is required to establish a PT and develop a standard. Individuals partici- pating in the deliberations of a PT embody a wide range of stakeholder interests and include representatives from government agencies, certication bodies, device devel- opers, regulatory agencies, academia and research institutions, environmental sci- entists, nanciers, and utility end users. It has taken an average of approximately three years from the time a PT is rst established to when it issues a technical specication. Standards can guide technology developers through each step of the engineering lifecycle and yield better designs while saving significant amounts of time and expense. A wave measurement mast characterizes waves being produced by a wave maker in a wave tank in New Jersey. This type of test program would use standards for testing reduced-scale wave energy converters.