Ben McGilton works within NREL’s water power program as a research engineer where he leads the group’s electrical and power electronics research efforts.

McGilton has extensive experience in the design, prototyping, and in-lab testing of electrical power take-off (PTO) systems for marine energy converters including having designed, built, and deployed an electrical PTO system for the HERO WEC project. McGilton currently leads a number of projects which are developing solutions for marine energy and water-power integration including microgrid modeling and power hardware-in-the-loop validation, custom power electronics for marine energy converters, grid-scale value assessment of marine energy renewables, hybrid energy systems, and green hydrogen production from renewable energy. Additionally, he leads NREL’s Coastal Structure Integrated Wave Energy Converter project, which investigates how these technologies could benefit coastal communities’ local power requirements and support resiliency efforts.

Before joining NREL, McGilton was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Edinburgh where he designed, built, and tested electrical machines and novel PTOs for wave energy converters including a 120kW linear generator for Project Neptune.

He is passionate about solving challenging problems that help build more resilient communities and support the renewable energy transition.

Marine energy converter design and testing

Microgrid design and marine energy integration

Coastal community resiliency and support

Novel electromagnetic systems modeling and prototyping

Green hydrogen from marine renewable energy

Project Engineer – Resolute Marine

Postdoctoral Researcher – University of Edinburgh