This is an unedited manuscript accepted for publication and provided as an Article in Press for early access at the author’s request. The article will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and galley proof review before final publication. Please be aware that errors may be identified during production that could affect the content. All legal disclaimers of the journal apply.
PALISETTI JHNANA PRASUNA ALEKHYA,
MANAS KUMAR YOGI,
- Undergraduate Student, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Pragati Engineering College (A), Surampalem, Andhra Pradesh, India
- Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Pragati Engineering College (A), Surampalem, Andhra Pradesh, India
Abstract
The accelerating deployment of ocean energy converters (OECs) across tidal, wave, osmotic, and thermal domains necessitates rigorous, data-intensive environmental impact assessment (EIA) frameworks capable of modelling multi-stressor marine ecosystems in real time. Classical machine learning approaches, while operationally mature, encounter scalability bottlenecks and feature correlation limitations when applied to the high-dimensional, non-linear datasets characteristic of offshore monitoring networks. This paper presents a comprehensive quantum machine learning (QML) framework for the EIA of OECs, integrating variational quantum circuits (VQCs), quantum neural networks (QNNs), and quantum support vector machines (QSVMs) to process oceanographic, biological, and electromechanical datasets simultaneously. Applied across five OEC technology classes—wave energy converters, tidal stream turbines, ocean thermal energy converters (OTEC), salinity gradient devices, and tidal barrages—the proposed hybrid QML architecture achieves a prediction accuracy of 94.1% and an R² of 0.961 on composite environmental impact scores, outperforming equivalent classical deep learning benchmarks by 12.8 percentage points. Tabular benchmarks, three synthesised figures, and cross-validated performance metrics are presented in support of these findings. The framework demonstrates particular efficacy in predicting electromagnetic field (EMF) exposure corridors, sediment plume dispersion, and underwater radiated noise (URN) thresholds, all identified as critical impact vectors for marine megafauna. The results affirm that QML-driven EIA constitutes a transformative paradigm shift for offshore renewable energy governance and environmental compliance workflows.
Keywords: Ocean Energy Converters; Quantum Machine Learning; Environmental Impact Assessment; Variational Quantum Circuits; Marine Ecology; Tidal Energy; Offshore Renewable Energy
PALISETTI JHNANA PRASUNA ALEKHYA, MANAS KUMAR YOGI. Environmental Impact Assessment of Ocean Energy Converters Using Quantum Machine Learning. Journal of Energy, Environment & Carbon Credits. 2026; 16(01):-.
PALISETTI JHNANA PRASUNA ALEKHYA, MANAS KUMAR YOGI. Environmental Impact Assessment of Ocean Energy Converters Using Quantum Machine Learning. Journal of Energy, Environment & Carbon Credits. 2026; 16(01):-. Available from: https://journals.stmjournals.com/joeecc/article=2026/view=240805
References
[1] Magagna D, Uihlein A. Ocean energy development in Europe: Current status and future perspectives. International Journal of Marine Energy. 2015 Sep 1;11:84-104.
[2] Wilberforce T, El Hassan Z, Durrant A, Thompson J, Soudan B, Olabi AG. Overview of ocean power technology. Energy. 2019 May 15;175:165-81.
[3] Copping AE, Hemery LG, Overhus DM, Garavelli L, Freeman MC, Whiting JM, Gorton AM, Farr HK, Rose DJ, Tugade LG. Potential environmental effects of marine renewable energy development—the state of the science. Journal of Marine Science and Engineering. 2020 Nov 4;8(11):879.
[4] Copping A, Battey H, Brown-Saracino J, Massaua M, Smith C. An international assessment of the environmental effects of marine energy development. Ocean & coastal management. 2014 Oct 1;99:3-13.
[5] Biamonte J, Wittek P, Pancotti N, Rebentrost P, Wiebe N, Lloyd S. Quantum machine learning. Nature. 2017 Sep 14;549(7671):195-202.
[6] Dolman S, Simmonds M. Towards best environmental practice for cetacean conservation in developing Scotland & marine renewable energy. Marine Policy. 2010 Sep 1;34(5):1021-7.
[7] Preskill J. Quantum computing in the nisq era and beyond. Bulletin of the American Physical Society. 2019 Aug;64(9).
[8] Falcão AF. Wave energy utilization: A review of the technologies. Renewable and sustainable energy reviews. 2010 Apr 1;14(3):899-918.
[9] Rezaei T, Javadi A. Environmental impact assessment of ocean energy converters using quantum machine learning. Journal of Environmental Management. 2024 Jun 1;362:121275.
[10] Lossent J, Lejart M, Folegot T, Clorennec D, Di Iorio L, Gervaise C. Underwater operational noise level emitted by a tidal current turbine and its potential impact on marine fauna. Marine Pollution Bulletin. 2018 Jun 1;131:323-34.
[11] Razek A. Biological and medical disturbances due to exposure to fields emitted by electromagnetic energy devices—a review. Energies. 2022 Jun 18;15(12):4455.
[12] Willsteed E, Gill AB, Birchenough SN, Jude S. Assessing the cumulative environmental effects of marine renewable energy developments: Establishing common ground. Science of the Total Environment. 2017 Jan 15;577:19-32.
[13] Riefolo L, Lanfredi C, Azzellino A, Vicinanza D. Environmental impact assessment of wave energy converters: A review. InProceedings of the International Conference on Applied Coastal Research SCACR, Florence, Italy 2015 (Vol. 28).
[14] Cerezo M, Arrasmith A, Babbush R, Benjamin SC, Endo S, Fujii K, McClean JR, Mitarai K, Yuan X, Cincio L, Coles PJ. Variational quantum algorithms. Nature Reviews Physics. 2021 Sep;3(9):625-44.
[15] Havlíček V, Córcoles AD, Temme K, Harrow AW, Kandala A, Chow JM, Gambetta JM. Supervised learning with quantum-enhanced feature spaces. Nature. 2019 Mar 14;567(7747):209-12.
[16] Pérez-Salinas A, Cervera-Lierta A, Gil-Fuster E, Latorre JI. Data re-uploading for a universal quantum classifier. Quantum. 2020 Feb 6;4:226.
[17] Mitarai K, Negoro M, Kitagawa M, Fujii K. Quantum circuit learning. Physical Review A. 2018 Sep;98(3):032309.
[18] Schuld M, Bergholm V, Gogolin C, Izaac J, Killoran N. Evaluating analytic gradients on quantum hardware. Physical Review A. 2019 Mar;99(3):032331.
[19] Houssein EH, Abohashima Z, Elhoseny M, Mohamed WM. Machine learning in the quantum realm: The state-of-the-art, challenges, and future vision. Expert Systems with Applications. 2022 May 15;194:116512.
[20] van Hees S. Increased integration between innovative ocean energy and the EU habitats, species and water protection rules through Maritime Spatial Planning. Marine Policy. 2019 Feb 1;100:27-42.
[21] Merchant ND, Pirotta E, Barton TR, Thompson PM. Monitoring ship noise to assess the impact of coastal developments on marine mammals. Marine pollution bulletin. 2014 Jan 15;78(1-2):85-95.
[22] Arrazola JM, Bergholm V, Brádler K, Bromley TR, Collins MJ, Dhand I, Fumagalli A, Gerrits T, Goussev A, Helt LG, Hundal J. Quantum circuits with many photons on a programmable nanophotonic chip. Nature. 2021 Mar 4;591(7848):54-60.

Journal of Energy, Environment & Carbon Credits
| Volume | 16 |
| 01 | |
| Received | 18/03/2026 |
| Accepted | 26/03/2026 |
| Published | 24/04/2026 |
| Publication Time | 37 Days |
Login
PlumX Metrics