Ocean-current-generated energy technologies have many favorable characteristics, including the following: • Water currents have a relatively high energy density • Some ocean currents are relatively constant in location and velocity, leading to a large capacity factor (fraction of time actively generating energy) for the turbines • Because they are installed beneath the water’s surface, water turbines have minimal visual impact • The largest current energy resource on the U.S. OCS, the Florida Straits Current, is relatively close to heavily populated areas of Miami that have high power demands

Reprinted with Permission from http://ocsenergy.anl.gov/guide/current/index.cfm