Renewable energy machine harvests underwater tides

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Now that US President Donald Trump has fully emerged as an ass-watching, noise-making presence on the 2026 election campaign, climate advocates are even more certain that their attempt to rein in the country’s wind and solar industries will ultimately fail. However, Trump doesn’t hate all forms of renewable energy. For example, it has been supporting the marine energy industry all along, perhaps because much of it is hidden underwater. Imagine…

The invisible renewable energy resource

Marine energy specifically refers to devices that harvest the kinetic energy of tides, currents and waves. That’s an important distinction because wind turbines, both offshore and onshore, have earned Trump’s ire since the early 2000s, when he lost a legal battle against an offshore wind farm that allegedly ruined the view from one of his golf courses in Scotland. Unlike wind turbines, marine energy devices are barely visible above the water surface, so the argument of spoiling the view loses a lot of its strength against them.

That helps explain why the U.S. Department of Energy continues to pour taxpayer money into marine energy R&D, even as Trump systematically tries to destroy every single wind turbine in sight (see more Trump vs. wind turbines here).

As for potential competition against President Trump’s allies in the fossil fuel industry, there’s no need to worry. Marine energy is a newborn global industry and lacks the supply chain and workforce necessary for rapid expansion before it can make a significant contribution to the transition to renewable energy. Much of the activity still consists of testing, demonstrations and pilot projects.

Still, if everything goes as planned, the reward will be considerable. The US Department of Energy estimates that wave energy alone could introduce 1,170 terawatt-hours per year to the national grid.

Tidal and current location opportunities are less extensive, but these two parts of the marine energy industry could still make a significant contribution to local and regional decarbonization efforts. The Department of Energy estimates that tidal energy could introduce 220 terawatt-hours per year to the grid.

The United States has been positioning itself as a global influence in the marine energy industry since 2010, when the United States Navy and Marine Corps partnered with the Department of Energy on a wave energy testing facility in Hawaii. The Hawaii facility has been upgraded several times since then, and the Department of Energy has also established the TEAMER program, which makes a network of U.S. marine energy laboratories available to innovators around the world. The crown jewel is PacWave South, an open-ocean testing facility off the Oregon coast that just celebrated its official launch over the summer.

The hum of activity is somewhat more muted around the tidal energy. To date, work has focused on locations where other on-site renewable energy resources are inadequate or impractical. That includes the “RITE” demonstration turbines on the East River in New York City, with the East River being a tidal waterway and not an actual river as commonly understood. Cobscook Bay and Western Passage in Maine are additional targets for tidal energy deployment, along with Cook Inlet in Alaska.

An underwater dragon collects renewable energy from the ocean

Other nations already have a good start on tidal energy. Among them is Sweden, where startup Minesto has been developing its “Dragon Class” series of tidal energy devices that resemble high-tech underwater kites. Dragon devices are designed to optimize energy harvesting from low-flow ocean and tidal currents.

Minesto has been focusing its business on tourist destinations and other remote locations where demand for renewable energy collides with aesthetic objections. To date, the company has active projects in the Faroe Islands, Wales and Taiwan.

In the latest news, today Minesto outlined a new Memorandum of Understanding with British investment firm Morteza Capital, aimed at providing clean energy solutions for the Republic of Maldives. The “Nopef” economic development fund has also contributed to helping both the Maldives and Minesto. Nopef is supported by Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, the Faroe Islands, Greenland and the Åland Islands of Finland.

The Maldives are a favorable place for the development of tidal energy. It is made up of hundreds of low-lying islands that are particularly exposed to rising sea levels and extreme weather conditions. As an example of the climate crisis, the Maldives government intends to free itself from the control of imported diesel fuel. However, the Maldives economy relies heavily on tourism, limiting opportunities for wind and solar energy.

That’s where tidal technology comes into play. “The Maldives faces significant challenges in the transition to renewable energy. Its geographically dispersed islands rely heavily on imported diesel for electricity generation, resulting in high energy costs and carbon emissions. At the same time, tourism is a cornerstone of the country’s economy, and it places particular importance on developing renewable energy solutions that preserve its pristine natural environment and scenic landscapes,” explains Minesto.

Next steps for renewable energy in the US

Perhaps one day in the bright green future, Minesto’s Dragon underwater kites will come to the US, just as other renewable energy equipment has been imported or manufactured here. Meanwhile, it’s fair to wonder why marine energy is on the list of favored resources under Trump’s “American Energy Dominance” plan, while wind and solar are not. In fact, hydropower, biomass and geothermal are also enjoying the warm embrace of Trump’s “American energy dominance” policy, along with nuclear power and energy storage.

Only wind and solar energy took the brunt, and why? Who knows! Regardless, solar energy has become the cheapest, most accessible and fastest way to put more kilowatts into the hands of an energy-hungry public.

And despite Trump’s extraordinary efforts to ban wind turbines forever, the country’s wind industry is already poised for a new round of growth driven largely by new tax deadlines. According to Wood Mackenzie’s latest report, wind turbine adoption hit a three-year high under Trump in the second quarter of this year, and US onshore wind power capacity will increase by 39 gigawatts by 2030, which is just around the corner.

Image: With years of R&D under its belt, the global marine energy industry is poised to make a significant contribution to the transition to renewable energy (“Dragon” kite-style tidal energy device, courtesy of Minesto).