“Marine energy is the newest frontier where we can unleash American innovation to produce more energy more affordably,” said US Undersecretary of Energy, Mark Menezes, at the National Hydropower Association’s Waterpower Week event in Washington, D.C.
Research will address fundamental scientific and engineering challenges of generating power from dynamic, low-velocity and high-density waves and currents, while surviving in corrosive ocean environments that are intensified by high costs and lengthy permitting processes.
The funding opportunity includes three topic areas:
- Topic Area 1: Early Stage Device Design Research concentrates on early-stage development and evaluation of next generation wave and tidal/current systems. The focus will be on targeting pre-commercial, scaled-prototype systems with high potential that can be proven through numerical simulations and testing validation.
- Topic Area 2: Controls and PTO Design Integration and Testing supports early-stage design of PTO and control systems. PTO refers to a range of mechanisms with which absorbed energy is transformed into usable electricity. Projects are expected to build and test PTOs with an operational real-time control system in a laboratory and/or tank setting.
- Topic Area 3: Dissemination of Environmental Data and Analyses to Facilitate the Marine Energy Regulatory Process supports efforts to more efficiently synthesize and communicate recent advances in science and understanding regarding potential environmental impacts from marine renewable energy development. Information needs to be widely available in consolidated and organized formats to inform and facilitate federal and state marine energy regulatory processes.
Reducing costs, accelerating technology development, and decreasing testing and development timelines of marine energy technologies can help realize the nation’s potential for future growth in marine energy resource extraction.
Sign up HERE to learn more about this funding opportunity at an upcoming webinar.
For more on the Water Power Technologies Office, visit its website HERE.
