United States boosts marine energy research and development projects

July 17, 2023, by Amir Garanovic

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has provided more than $3.5 million for 18 hydropower and marine energy projects as part of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program.

Illustration/The submerged CalWave x1 wave energy device (Courtesy of CalWave Power Technologies)

US DOE’s Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO) selected the small business-led projects that can help spur water power-focused innovation across the country.

Out of the supported projects, nine are focused on marine energy. The projects are expected to help achieve the Biden administration’s goals of a carbon-free power sector by 2035 and net-zero-emissions economy by 2050.

For the topic ‘Innovations in Water Data’, US DOE selected Fathom Science to develop a novel artificial intelligence/machine learning approach for high-efficiency, high-fidelity marine wave energy characterization and assessment for powering the blue economy.

Also, Geometric Data Analytics has been selected for support to lead a project whose results will be used to build maps to help identify sites to harness ocean currents for marine energy.

California-based Ocean Motion Technologies has also been successful in securing the funds from US DOE for a project that will build a wave-sensing data platform into an existing advanced ocean wave energy device, which will allow small-scale wave energy devices to directly measure wave dynamics, therefore enabling optimal electricity generation.

In the topic ‘Co-Development of Marine Energy Technologies’, the US DOE selected four projects. These include the one for design and prototyping of a novel lightweight wave energy converter for marine energy harvesting and self-powered marine monitoring, led by 4D Maker.

BladeRunner Energy has secured support for tidal energy-powered solution for aquaculture sustainability, while Triton Systems will lead a project that will explore the feasibility of using a wave energy converter to provide clean, renewable energy to aquaculture systems to replace diesel-generated power.

CalWave Power Technologies received backing for CalWave xNode project, that will enable the ‘Ocean Internet of Things’ through a versatile, adaptable, and resilient ocean observing platform with built-in power generation.

The third topic that supported marine energy projects relates to the sector’s supply chain development.

The US DOE selected 3U Technologies for a project that will develop standardized design criteria for marine power transmission cables at micro-grid-level (fewer than 2MW) power requirements, and Triton Anchor to develop a transportable, cost-effective, and easily installed anchoring solution for the marine energy industry.