US DOE Awards $37 Million for Marine and Hydrokinetic Energy Technology Development

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has selected 27 projects for more than $37 million in funding to accelerate the technological and commercial readiness of emerging marine and hydrokinetic (MHK) technologies, which seek to generate renewable electricity from oceans and free-flowing rivers and streams. The 27 projects range from concept studies and component design research to prototype development and in-water device testing.

Ocean waves, tides, currents, thermal gradients, and free-flowing rivers represent a promising energy source located close to centers of electricity demand. The Department of Energy is working with industry, universities, national laboratories, and other groups to develop technologies capable of harnessing these resources to generate environmentally sustainable, cost-competitive power. The Department of Energy will leverage private sector investments in marine and hydrokinetic energy technologies by providing cost-shared funding to industry and industry-led partnerships. Selected projects include:

Discovery, Concept Definition, and Early Stage Development

• Bayer Material Science LLC (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) will analyze an innovative, non-turbine approach to harnessing river currents. The project will develop a new device called the Galloping Hydrokinetic Energy Extraction Device that will convert fast-moving river currents into an oscillating motion that will drive a dielectric elastomer generator (DEG). The DEG will generate electricity without the need for rotors or other moving parts. DOE Funding: $240,000. Total Project Value: $686,000.

• Free Flow Energy, Inc. (Lee, New Hampshire) will design and optimize a rugged submersible generator capable of coupling to a broad range of tidal and river current turbines, for use in a wide range of operational conditions. The goal is to develop an optimal generator for current energy conversion. DOE Funding: $160,000. Total Project Value: $192,000.

• M3 Wave Energy Systems LLC (Salem, Oregon) will explore the commercial viability of the submerged Delos-Reyes Morrow Pressure Device (DMP), an innovative air pressure device utilizing bi-directional turbines for converting ocean wave energy into electricity. The DMP design would be a fully submerged wave energy converter resting on the ocean floor, converting the oscillatory nature of a wave’s pressure fluctuations into alternating compression and expansion cycles of flexible air-filled chambers that are connected to a bi-directional air turbine and an electrical generator. DOE Funding: $240,000. Total Project Value: $300,000.

• Resolute Marine Energy, Inc. (Boston, Massachusetts) will develop a cost-effective, high efficiency, power take-off system for a wave energy converter, a mechanism to convert water’s mechanical energy into usable electricity. This is a unique approach that seeks to replace lower efficiency, high maintenance, long-stroke linear generator systems. The project will assess the cost of manufacturing these systems at various scales. DOE Funding: $160,000. Total Project Value: $200,000