Marine Energy
The US Department of Energy defines marine energy as “a renewable energy source that is harnessed from the natural movement of water, including waves, tides, and river and ocean currents”. The total available marine energy resource in the United States is equivalent to approximately 57% of all U.S. power generation in 2019 (Department of Energy, 2025).
Recent Developments: A U.K. based organization called Menter Mon’s Morlais has completed the initial phase of a project to collect and disseminate tidal information. Menter Mon has made the data they have collected off the coast of Wales available via the Marine Data Exchange. The MDE is intended to provide well organized and comprehensive tidal information to all those who might wish to capture marine energy. 40 terabytes of data has been collected so far. This project has the potential to significantly lower the barrier to entry for marine energy projects worldwide (Maksumic, 2025).
Concentrated Solar Power (CSP)
The US department of energy explains that CSP technologies “use mirrors to reflect and concentrate sunlight onto a receiver. The energy from the concentrated sunlight heats a high temperature fluid in the receiver. Thus, photoelectric energy is created alongside thermal energy that can be used or converted into additional electricity. This technology has a lot of potential for utility-scale projects and could become a cornerstone of the world’s energy mix in the future (Department of Energy, 2015).
Recent Developments: A leading CSP provider, Heliogen, has recently concluded a demonstration of their Gen 3 CSP technology. Gen 3 CSP implements new innovations to generate more heat than traditional CSP technology. Gen 2 CSP plants are already operating successfully at many locations around the world and these plants already produce electricity in less time and at a lower cost than most other renewable sources. If companies like Heliogen can successfully bring down the cost of Gen 3 plant construction we will be one massive step closer to a power grid fed exclusively by cost effective renewable sources (Business Wire, 2025).
Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS)
Naturally occurring underground reservoirs of fluid and heat that are used to produce energy are called Geothermal Energy. Enhanced geothermal energy involves creating human-made reservoirs in areas where geothermal heat is present, but a lack of fluids or natural permeability renders traditional geothermal energy capture methods ineffective.
Recent Developments: The Department of Energy has funded three EGE projects in the US; in Utah, Nevadah, and California. The DOE has a current program, called The Enhanced Geothermal Shot, to reduce the cost of EGS by 90% to $45 per megawatt by 2035 (Department of Energy, 2024).
A Houston-based company, Fervo Energy, has recently received $225M in funding to establish new EGS plants. Fervo’s first plant in Beaver County, Utah will reportedly begin generating electricity in 2026.
Sage Geosystems has signed a deal to provide 150 megawatts of geothermal energy for Meta data centers. This plant is expected to be functional by 2027 (Mirza, 2025).
Other Notable Emerging Renewable Energy Technologies
Perovskite Solar Cells: A potential breakthrough in solar technology, offering increased efficiency compared to traditional solar panels.
Floating Solar Farms: Solar panels installed on water bodies like lakes or reservoirs, maximizing available space for solar energy generation.
Floating Wind Farms: Wind turbines placed on floating platforms in the ocean, allowing for installation in deeper water areas (StartUs Insights, 2024)
How Well Will These Technologies Meet Renewable Energy Demands?
The World Energy Transitions Outlook plan from the International Renewable Energy Agency has laid out a framework to keep global warming below 1.5 degree Celsius. This plan requires that two thirds of the expected 2050 hydrogen demand of 550 MT be produced using renewable energy sources. How much renewable energy this will require depends on the efficiency of installed electrolyzers. If we rely on solar power alone for our renewable needs, and given an electrolyzer efficiency of 79%, we will need to install an additional 714 gigawatts of solar power plants, 18 times more than the world has in 2020. If we rely on wind power alone, we will need a total of 6.2 terawatts of installed wind power, or eight times the current global capacity (Deign, 2021).
There is a lot of work to be done, but ACS believes that we will continue seeing innovations in the renewable energy sector that bring the cost of renewable electricity down, and thus also the cost of green hydrogen. As technologies improve, and the cost of each type of renewable energy source continues to decline, the enormous requirements for additional renewable sources will become more and more attainable.
Sources:
Business Wire. (2025, January 23). Heliogen Concludes Capella Demonstration, Advancing Next-Generation Concentrated Solar Technology. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250123510227/en/Heliogen-Concludes-Capella-Demonstration-Advancing-Next-Generation-Concentrated-Solar-Technology
Deign, J. (2021, July 13). How much renewables expansion is needed for a global green hydrogen economy? Canary Media. https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/hydrogen/how-much-renewable-capacity-would-world-need-for-green-hydrogen
Department of Energy. (2015, June 24). Concentrating Solar-Thermal Power Basics. Energy.gov. https://www.energy.gov/eere/solar/concentrating-solar-thermal-power-basics
Department of Energy. (2024, June 26). Enhanced geothermal systems. Energy.gov. https://www.energy.gov/eere/geothermal/enhanced-geothermal-systems
Department of Energy. (2025, January 17). Marine Energy Basics. Energy.gov. https://www.energy.gov/eere/water/marine-energy-basics#:~:text=Marine%20energy%2C%20also%20known%20as,and%20river%20and%20ocean%20currents.
Maksumic, Z. (2025, January 22). ‘Game-changing’ data from Wales to back UK’s tidal energy development. Offshore Energy. https://www.offshore-energy.biz/game-changing-data-from-wales-to-back-uks-tidal-energy-development/
Mirza, Z. (2025, January 7). Fervo Energy nabs $255M to deploy carbon-free geothermal power. ESG Dive. https://www.esgdive.com/news/fervo-energy-nabs-255m-to-deploy-carbon-free-geothermal-power/736695/
StartUs Insights. (2024, August 27). Explore the top 10 renewable energy trends in 2025. https://www.startus-insights.com/innovators-guide/top-10-renewable-energy-trends-2022/