Databases Related to Marine and Wind Energy and the Environment

 The Ocean Tracking Network (OTN) is a global aquatic animal tracking, data management, and partnership platform headquartered at Dalhousie University in Canada. OTN and its partners are using electronic tags to track many keystone, commercially important, and endangered species at an international scale, across all ocean regions. As a global animal movement data repository, OTNDC has as its mission the collection, aggregation, cross-referencing, preservation, and dissemination (both public and private) of aquatic telemetry data on behalf of the global network, and in collaboration with sibling aquatic telemetry data centres situated regionally. Furthermore, OTNDC is mandated to inform global biogeographical information systems, such as OBIS, with aquatic animal tracking data as it is eventually made publicly accessible under the terms of the OTN Data Policy.

4C Offshore is an independent marine consultancy and market research organization that hosts an international offshore wind farm database. The database contains project details for over 1,800 offshore wind projects in over 52 countries, including location, timeline, and ownership, as well as the specific turbine, transmission, and vessel technologies deployed. Additionally, the database contains an interactive map that allows users to search for different offshore wind farms, proposed projects, major ports, wind speed, water depth, and more. 

Tethys Engineering is an online knowledge management system that provides access to information on the technical and engineering aspects of marine energy. Launched by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to support the U.S. Department of Energy’s Water Power Technologies Office, Tethys Engineering houses thousands of peer reviewed papers, technical reports, geospatial content, and other media, including a Photo Library. Tethys Engineering is one of several Knowledge Hubs within the Portal and Repository for Information on Marine Renewable Energy (PRIMRE) system.    

As part of the OCEANIC Project, the European Biofouling Database is a specific output which aims to provide developers, operators, and regulators a quick overview of geographical biofouling distribution facilitating informed decisions. The database provides information on the organisms’ occurrence and key biofouling parameters to the MRE sector, aiming to inform developers planning their projects. The database is updated frequently and a final version can be requested via a form on the website.

Data Basin is a science-based mapping and analysis platform that supports learning, research, and sustainable environmental stewardship. The core of Data Basin is free and provides open access to thousands of scientifically-grounded, biological, physical, and socio-economic datasets on specific topics, geographies, and projects. Data Basin's Gateways include a subset of the data available on Data Basin and showcase spatial information for a particular project or organization. 

France Energies Marines launched the RESCORE project in 2020. The online resource tool provided access to relevant information and other assets deemed valuable for the development of the offshore renewable energy (ORE) sector in France. The RESCORE tool focuses on the results of the R&D projects of the France Energies Marines institute, but will gradually welcome data from other ORE players in order to become a single point of access that will allow the good development of the sector.

MARENDATA (formerly the SOWFIA Data Management Platform) is an interactive tool designed to present wave energy and related information. MARENDATA can be used to find detailed information on a particular project, test site, or to view data regarding one or more environmental parameters. The original platform was migrated to this new version in the context of two ongoing projects: SeaWAVE and WESE. The data sets made available on the SOWFIA Data Management Platform will continue to be freely accessible. New data sets are being gathered by partners of SeaWAVE and WESE.

Marine Cadastre is an integrated marine information system that provides data, tools, and technical support for ocean and Great Lakes planning. Developed through a partnership between the U.S.'s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), Marine Cadastre provides information regarding biologically important areas; maritime boundaries; offshore wind technology depth zones; offshore tidal stream, wave, and wind resource potentials; and more. 

Marine Energy Atlas is an interactive mapping tool developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory that maps US wave, tidal, riverine current, ocean current, and ocean thermal resources. It supports everything from project siting to device design through high-resolution and spatially comprehensive data sets. Marine Energy Atlas is one of several Knowledge Hubs within the Portal and Repository for Information on Marine Renewable Energy (PRIMRE) system.

MarinEARS (Marine Explorer and Registry of Sound) is a scientific platform for monitoring and assessment of underwater noise effects from offshore wind energy and was established in 2016 by Germany's Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH). MarinEARS offers publicly accessible general and technical information on underwater noise events including their location, date and duration. Additionally, it provides information on sound pressure levels as well as on the application of noise abatement systems.

MRE Software is a collection of software relevant to marine energy development that is organized into the PRIMRE Code Catalog, a searchable online discovery platform for open-source and commercial software, and the MRE Code Hub, a collection of open-source software for simulating devices, and processing and analyzing data. MRE Software is one of several Knowledge Hubs within the Portal and Repository for Information on Marine Renewable Energy (PRIMRE) system.

Ocean Biogeographic Information System Spatial Ecological Analysis of Megavertebrate Populations (OBIS-SEAMAP) is a spatially referenced online database, aggregating marine mammal, seabird, and sea turtle observation data from across the globe. OBIS-SEAMAP is hosted at Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University. The OBIS-SEAMAP project is a node of the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS).

OpenEI is an energy information portal sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in support of the Open Government Initiative to make energy data transparent, participatory, and collaborative. In wiki format, OpenEI hosts a collection of content and data on a wide variety of topics from renewable energy resources and technologies, policy and regulations, and analyzed and raw data.

Quest Floating Wind Energy (Q FWE) is a market intelligence company that hosts several subscription-based products related to the global offshore wind energy market and supply chain. Q FWE also hosts several resources that are freely available to the public, including a list of wind companies and their supply chain categories, the Q FWEconomics Calculator, and the Quest Offshore Wind Turbine Index.

RenewableUK's UK Marine Energy Database (UKMED) is a growing map and database of wave and tidal sites in the UK. The interactive map enables users to view project details including technology type, ownership, and project status.

RenewableUK's UK Wind Energy Database (UKWED) contains useful information and data about onshore and offshore wind projects in the UK. An advanced search and interactive map is available for RenewableUK Members, as well as a project intelligence hub that hosts information on contracts, project ownership, generator type, and news relating to onshore and offshore projects. 

RES is a web platform that supports maritime stakeholders in the exploitation of wave energy resource. The tool provides the wave information for the period 2010 to 2019 and the power matrix of different WECs. The user can identify the best location for the wave energy assessment and obtain the time series of the main synthetic parameters in addition to several statistical analyses. For the European Sea, different constraints are shown, such as military areas, installed offshore structures, protected locations and the main vessel route.

Telesto provides information and guidance for testing, measurement, and data analysis for marine energy research, development, and demonstration. It also features the Testing Facilities Database, a collection of device testing facilities, and the Sensor and Instrumentation Database, a catalogued collection of sensors and instruments used by the marine energy industry. Telesto is one of several Knowledge Hubs within the Portal and Repository for Information on Marine Renewable Energy (PRIMRE) system.

The Joint Cetacean Data Programme (JCDP) provides a platform and set of resources to support the collection and utilisation of standardised cetacean survey data, which may support the development the offshore wind industry by providing and / or hosting marine mammal survey data. The JCDP Data Portal enables data providers to upload cetacean survey data directly and data users to explore and download datasets. The Data Portal comprises the database, with map and dashboard for data visualisation. The data portal is part of the The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) biodiversity data centre, hosted and managed by ICES. The platform is managed by an ICES Working Group. JNCC currently host the information hub and chair the governance group, and ICES host the data portal.

The American Wind Wildlife Institute (AWWI) is an independent nonprofit that conducts and supports scientific research to better understand wind energy's risks to wildlife and develop solutions to avoid, minimize, and offset those impacts. The American Wind-Wildlife Documents Library includes peer-reviewed wind-wildlife research, published articles and reports, and publicly available but un-published reports prepared for wind energy facilities in North America (both before and after construction). 

The Atlantic Offshore Seabird Dataset Catalog, a product of collaboration between several bureaus within the U.S. Department of Interior, contains historical and contemporary datasets on survey effort and bird observations along the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf. The full archive contains over 70 datasets and each observation record includes a point location, date, and time, as well as a species and observation count.

The Australian Renewable Energy Mapping Infrastructure (AREMI) is a spatial data platform for the Australian energy industry. The AREMI website provides access to renewable energy and general information which has been provided by various third party data custodians. AREMI is funded by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency and developed by Data61 in partnership with Geoscience Australia and the Clean Energy Council. 

The Belgian Marine Data Centre (BMDC) at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences is a National Oceanographic Data Centre (NODC) dedicated to the professional processing and long-term storage of marine environmental and fisheries data and production of data products. The primary objective of BMDC is the safeguarding and the effective management of oceanographic data and information including acquiring, formatting, quality controlling, cataloguing, archiving, disseminating, and exchanging of marine data and information.

The European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet) is a consortium of organizations assembling European marine data, data products, and metadata from diverse sources. The data portals within EMODnet provide access to information such as the spatial extent of a series of activities related to the sea, their temporal variation, and attributes to indicate the intensity of each activity. Additionally, Human Activities portal's interactive map enables users to locate marine renewable energy facilities and offshore wind farms at various stages of development throughout Europe. 

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC) eLibrary maintains a record of all permit-related documents for sites under their jurisdiction, which includes all U.S. MHK projects. Users can conduct general searches or enter a specific docket number to search through the eLibrary. Note the eLibrary contains MHK filings, as well as conventional hydrokinetic project filings.