Float and tether energy collectors (any combination of solar/ wind/ wave collectors) onto offshore (and potentially out of sight) platforms: use the energy to generate hydrogen by electrolysis from sea water. The hydrogen gets stored in tanks on the platforms and harvesting would entail swapping empty tanks with charged tanks.
A parallel concept would have vast arrays of wind turbines off New England's shores generating electricity to split (fresh) water at great depth, allowing cheap piping of the hydrogen to shore, using the water pressure to allow thin tubing to keep the hydrogen at great pressure. I can't find early 1980s discussion of this now, but found this: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40095-014-0104-6/fulltext.html
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