The U.S. Energy Department has announced $7.25 million for six organizations that will continue to advance water power as a viable resource for America’s clean energy portfolio.
Marine and hydrokinetic (MHK) technologies convert the energy of waves, tides, rivers, and ocean currents into electricity that can be used by homes and businesses, especially in coastal regions of the United States. This funding will aide in the development of advanced instrumentation for environmental monitoring and data collection and support a partnership between three universities to accelerate the development of cost-effective MHK technologies.
Five organizations will receive a total of $3.25 million to develop and integrate instrumentation and processing techniques that will monitor and help reduce the environmental impacts of MHK technologies and collect physical data on ocean waves such as height, period, directionality, and steepness. The data will allow MHK devices to more accurately assess approaching waves and more efficiently harness their energy.
In addition to the projects listed above, the Energy Department also announced that a new consortium led by Oregon State University , and including the University of Washington and the University of Alaska Fairbanks , will receive $4 million in funding to combine their field-focused R&D capabilities to accelerate the development and deployment of MHK technologies.
Using existing resources at the Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center, this consortium of universities will accelerate the development of next-generation wave and tidal energy device arrays and conduct R&D activities aimed at reducing the technical, economic, and environmental barriers to MHK deployments. These include:
The Department’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy accelerates development and deployment of energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies and market-based solutions that strengthen U.S. energy security, environmental quality, and economic vitality.