When it comes to LENR, 2016 really sucked. Yes, it's true. The lawsuit between Industrial Heat and Andrea Rossi polluted the whole community with toxicity and hostility from both sides, the number of public and openly disclosed replications of what some people refer to as LENR+ declined, and the noise level from feuding parties rose to sickening heights. The events of this past year were the opposite of what I'd hoped for. Although there were a few brighter spots and some progress (a little in the open but most behind closed doors), the world still does not accept the Rossi Effect and LENR as a whole as an absolute rock solid reality.
But I expect everything will change in 2017. I know that there are more parties gearing up for public replications, some of these teams have been provided with more "know how" than ever before, their labs funded on a shoe string budget are actually acquiring more equipment, and there is a strong willingness to push forward. I'm convinced that many individuals in the community are now realizing how and why these systems work, at least on a general level: make tiny spaces in the lattice, fill tiny spaces in the lattice with hydrogen, stimulate the exotic hydrogen species in these tiny spaces in the lattice. Of course, there are many ways to go about these steps, but we're in a far better position than in January of 2016!
In 2017, I expect the Nickel-Hydrogen and Nickel-Hydrogen-Lithium LENR systems will be replicated repeatedly, and at some point a group will provide a set of guidelines that will allow it to be replicated with a high success rate by anyone around the globe. I'm not talking about systems with lower power densities (a few watts per gram) or low COPs (1.2), but high power densities (1000 watts per gram or higher) and high COPs (including self sustaining reactions). Once some basic techniques are mastered, anyone on the planet will be able to show reactors glowing at 1000C or higher for hours with minimal input. These systems will prove that the Rossi Effect and LENR in general is an absolute reality.
Of course there is no telling what will happen with the Doral case, but I expect once replications start commencing it will become far less important to most people in the community. After the guidelines for a successful Ni-H-Li replication are published, there will be hundreds of people posting videos on YouTube. We'll go from a handful of "players" to potentially thousands of "players" over night. IH and Andrea Rossi will both go from being major names to just individuals in the crowd.
LENR will start being utilized in thousands of products faster than we can imagine. The power grid will fade away, traditional renewable energy technologies like solar will die a quick death, fossil fuels will become almost instantly obsolete, and humanity will start colonizing the solar system.