20 Teams Qualify for DOE Wave Energy Prize

Twenty teams have successfully navigated the first technology gate of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Wave Energy Prize to become official qualified teams.

The 20 qualified teams, selected from the field of 92 official registered teams announced on July 6, will continue their quest to double the energy captured from ocean waves and win a prize purse totaling more than $2 million. The design-build-test competition is encouraging the development of game-changing wave energy conversion (WEC) devices that will achieve the DOE’s goal of doubling energy captured, which will in turn reduce the cost of wave energy, making it more competitive with traditional energy solutions.

Official qualified teams are:

• Advanced Ocean Energy at Virginia Tech,
• AquaHarmonics,
• Atlantic Wavepower Partnership,
• Atlas Ocean Systems,
• CalWave,
• Enorasy Labs,
• Float Inc. – BergerABAM,
• IOwec (MIT Sea Grant College Program),
• M3 Wave,
• Mocean Energy,
• OceanEnergy USA,
• Oscilla Power,
• Principle Power,
• RTI Wave Power,
• Sea Potential,
• SEWEC,
• Super Watt Wave Catcher Barge Team,
• Team FLAPPER (Floating Lever and Piston Power ExtractoR),
• Wave Energy Conversion Corporation of America (WECCA),
• Waveswing America.

Phil Michael, technical expert at Ricardo, Inc., said: “We’re excited to see how these 20 devices perform during the small-scale testing, and we’re hopeful many will demonstrate a capability to achieve the DOE’s goal ofdoubling the cost effectiveness of energy capture from ocean waves.”

Finalist teams, which are scheduled to be announced in March 2016, will be selected based upon the requirements of Prize’s second technology gate.

These teams will have the opportunity to receive seed money to build their 1/20thscale WEC prototypes, which are scheduled to undergo tank testing at the nation’s most advanced wave-making facility, the Naval Surface Warfare Center’s Maneuvering and Seakeeping (MASK) Basin at Carderock, Md., beginning in the summer of 2016.