The marine current resource is potentially large and could generate a significant part of the European Union's electricity requirements. Before the installation of marine prototypes, specific trials are necessary to evaluate the behaviour of each system and the ability to exploit tidal or marine currents. This paper presents a feed back of Ifremer tank testing practices but not only, for marine current turbine energy converter characterization. The main objective is to investigate the potentiality of the common experimental facilities to reproduce in-situ conditions, accepting that their use will continue to reduce the financial risk to the developper.