H.R. 5692 — Marine Energy Technologies Acceleration Act

This section establishes the Marine Energy Acceleration Fund and authorizes $1 billion for it (to remain available until expended). Of those amounts, $600 million is for competitive solicitations for at least 20 marine energy demonstration projects that export power to microgrids, community grids, or utility-scale grids, with priority for projects integrating with existing infrastructure, open water prototype testing, energy resilience for rural/remote/Tribal/low-income communities, and powering ocean-based research/education/workforce/national security/commercial activities; $230 million is for competitive solicitations for research, development, and domestic manufacturing to advance marine energy technologies (with priority for rapid testing to improve efficiency/costs/environmental impacts/reliability/supply chain, public education, and ecosystem monitoring/mitigation) and $20 million is for marine energy education activities through the National Marine Energy Centers; and $50 million is for assessing the economic potential of marine energy at least 50 sites (in coordination with NOAA and BOEM), including resource characterizations, environmental monitoring, geographic distribution, and data sharing to inform demonstration projects. (Thus, at least $900 million is allocated across these activities, with remaining funds available for other marine energy acceleration efforts such as permitting improvements.)