US Department of Energy will today reveal the winner of its Wave Energy Prize challenge who has met or exceeded the goal of doubling the energy captured from ocean waves.
The winner(s) will be announced today, November 16, during an Innovation Showcase to be held at Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock in Maryland.
The attendance at this event is limited by invitation only, however, the Department has set up a live stream for public to watch the announcement starting at 10 am ET, or 4 pm CET.
Live streaming video by Ustream
The competition, which started back in spring 2015, saw 9 finalist teams overcome several challenges including writing technical submissions, test plans, and build plans; construction of 1:50 scale models; small-scale testing; and numerical modelling of their WEC’s performance.
All this work resulted in each team building their 1:20 scale WEC prototypes which were tested the Navy’s Maneuvering and Seakeeping (MASK) Basin in Carderock as a final step in the challenge.
The finalists in the competition are AquaHarmonics, CalWave, M3 Wave, Oscilla Power, RTI Wave Power, Sea Potential, SEWEC, Harvest Wave Energy and Waveswing America.
The winner(s) will be awarded $1.5 million, followed by the second award of $500,000, while the third-placed tam will be awarded $250,000.