NATIONAL HYDROPOWER ASSOCIATION
Powering the Perimeter: How Marine Energy Can Become a Cornerstone of U.S. National Security

Throughout history, the size of a nation's fleet was the biggest indicator of its capacity at sea, but that paradigm is rapidly shifting.

Perhaps the most-relevant, modern example is the war in Ukraine, which has provided a significant proof of concept. When Russia invaded in 2022, the country's Black Sea Fleet represented an overwhelming conventional naval advantage. Ukraine had no comparable navy, but it possessed ingenuity. The result was the Sea Baby a low-cost, domestically developed, unmanned surface vessel (USV) that has become a force multiplier in naval engagement.

In July of 2023, Ukrainian USVs struck the Crimean Bridge, damaged or destroyed more than a dozen Russian warships, and ultimately forced the Russian Black Sea Fleet to abandon its forward base at Sevastopol and retreat to the Russian coast. Russia had no defense against a drone that was produced for a fraction of the price, a pittance when considering the cost of the ships it sank.

Arguably, the strategic implication that has been observed in the Russian invasion of Ukraine is not lost on defense planners in Washington, D.C.; namely, an outgunned and outmanned nation achieved significant success at sea against a major naval power using distributed, affordable, remotely operated systems.

Nations that fail to adapt run the risk of having defense gaps that could be exploited by adversaries. The question for the United States is not about the reality of the threat; rather, it's whether the nation is building the infrastructure to counter it.

Marine energy technologies are a critical component of that response. The technology's ability to harvest energy directly from the ocean, persistently, without fuel resupply and without a necessary grid connection, makes it a natural enabler for the distributed, long-endurance. maritime systems that modern defenses demand.

The marine energy sector has advanced rapidly thanks to the historic support of the federal government, including the Department of Energy, Department of War (DoW), and Members of Congress, but continued federal support is necessary for the robust adoption of marine energy technologies for the nation's defense needs.

HOW IS THE U.S. MEETING THE MOMENT?

In January 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14186, directing development of a next-generation missile and air defense shield: the Golden Dome. The ambition is sweeping: a layered, multi-domain architecture combining ground, sea, air, and space-based sensors and interceptors capable of detecting and defeating threats ranging from ballistic missiles to one-way attack drones. Congress moved quickly to support it, directing nearly $24.5 billion toward Golden Dome development through the 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

The Golden Dome framework calls for total domain awareness, from the seafloor to outer space. Yet, the "seafloor" component deserves greater attention, as the United States has 95,471 miles of coastline, which include major port complexes, critical undersea infrastructure, and maritime trade corridors. A defense posture focused exclusively on air and missile threats leaves these vital areas exposed to autonomous, sea-surface and subsurface threats.

A truly comprehensive Golden Dome must include a maritime layer. Powering that layer by enabling persistent, distributed sensors and unmanned systems across thousands of miles of coastline is precisely what marine energy is built to do.

MARINE ENERGY IN ACTION: THE OPT EXAMPLE

To help greater contextualize the role of marine energy in this space, enter Ocean Power Technologies (OPT), a company that develops autonomous maritime systems and offshore energy solutions designed for persistent operations in remote environments. Its capabilities span autonomous surface vehicles, offshore power systems, and integrated sensing and communications.

OPT's work focuses on enabling long-duration, infrastructure-light operations at sea, particularly where conventional power and logistics are constrained, providing a practical perspective on how marine energy, domestic manufacturing, and a U.S.-based workforce can support emerging national security needs.

OPT has supported the Department of Homeland Security, including the U.S. Coast Guard, through the deployment of offshore buoy systems designed to provide persistent monitoring and communications in coastal and ocean environments. These systems can operate for extended durations with minimal servicing, supporting missions such as maritime domain awareness, infrastructure monitoring, and situational awareness in areas where fixed infrastructure is limited.

In parallel, OPT has deployed a buoy system with the Naval Postgraduate School to support research into 5G and communications at sea, focused on extending connectivity offshore and testing distributed maritime network concepts.

Together, these efforts demonstrate persistent offshore presence without continuous human oversight, the ability to host sensing and communications payloads in distributed locations, and the extension of communications and data networks beyond shore-based infrastructure.

The capabilities demonstrated in these deployments map directly to defense use cases, particularly as operations become more distributed and reliant on unmanned systems, such as: persistent maritime domain awareness, offshore sensing and communications nodes, and support for distributed autonomous systems.

As these systems scale, power and sustaining growth become limiting factors. Renewable offshore energy like marine energy provides a pathway to extend endurance and reduce reliance on fuel-based logistics; additionally, domestic production and staffing contribute to supply chain resilience and operational security.

Looking forward, marine energy is best understood as an enabling layer within a broader maritime system; near-term opportunities include:

• Powering distributed sensing and communications nodes
• Extending endurance of unmanned systems
• Supporting monitoring of coastal infrastructure and maritime approaches

Progress will depend on moving from isolated demonstrations to networked, mission-driven deployments, as well as ensuring that domestic manufacturing capacity and workforce development scale alongside the technology itself.

THE POLICY LANDSCAPE: BUILDING ON WHAT WORKS

Funding structures already exist that are moving marine energy deployment forward in the defense space, and they offer a model worth examining. Other Transaction Authorities (OTAs) allow the DoW to engage nontraditional defense contractors outside the more cumbersome requirements of standard federal acquisition rules. That flexibility is critical for marine energy, where developers are typically small, specialized companies rather than large defense contractors.

DoW OTA obligations grew from $1.8 billion in FY2016 to more than $18 billion in FY2024. The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR/STTR) program provides a complementary pathway, offering staged funding that rewards technical innovation without requiring the overhead of a traditional defense contractor.

These mechanisms work because they are organized around mission outcomes, and they point toward what broader marine energy policy could look like. It is worth noting, however, that not every marine energy developer is positioned to access DoW funding structures as they are currently developed.

Companies focused on community power or offshore resource applications face different, and less well-developed, pathways. The defense model offers important lessons, but the sector, as a whole, needs a broader policy toolkit to advance and capture the mission-critical near-term markets for the technologies.

Two pieces of bipartisan legislation currently before Congress would help fill that gap;

1. The Water Power Research and Development Reauthorization Act (H.R. 7129 / S. 3684) would reauthorize and modernize the Department of Energy's water power research, development, demonstration, and commercialization programs across hydropower, pumped storage, and marine energy.
2. The FLOWS Act (S. 3518) would streamline licensing of micro-hydrokinetic energy projects under the Federal Power Act, reducing one of the most significant regulatory barriers facing small marine energy developers.

Neither bill is specific to national defense, but both strengthen the commercial and technical foundation that makes marine energy's defense case credible and durable.

Marine energy should not be assumed to be a niche resource waiting for its moment. It is an active, deployable technology currently in use today to support U.S. defense and homeland security objectives. With the right policy support, marine energy is ready to do considerably more.  The technology provides reliable, local power for remote communities, offshore platforms, and forward installations, which are national security benefits the United States cannot afford to ignore.