Oscilla Power will receive a $5.35 million grant towards a 4-year long, $10.2 million project that will culminate in the testing of a community-scale Triton wave energy system in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.
The grant, awarded by the US Department of Energy (DOE) , will help Oscilla Power to integrate cost-reducing technology advancements into its Triton wave energy converter.
Oscilla’s device design features tethered connections between a surface float and an underwater heave plate. This allows for energy extraction in multiple degrees of freedom, which will aim to reduce the cost of wave energy.
The device will be tested at the US Navy’s Wave Energy Test Site in Hawaii.
The company is also one of the 9 finalists of the Wave Energy Prize that have the chance to win a prize totaling more than $2 million. In July, Oscilla shipped its Triton wave energy converter to the MASK wave-making facility at Carderock, Maryland.
In December 2015, DOE granted funds to the company for optimization of the device’s storm-survival configurations.