July 9 (Renewables Now) – The US Department of Energy (DOE) this week launched a funding opportunity for projects that will further wave energy converter (WEC) technologies, offering to support research and development (R&D) with up to USD 27 million (EUR 22.8m) in federal funding.
To be eligible, projects have to use the PacWave South testing facility, one of two future open ocean wave energy testing sites located off the coast of Newport, Oregon. The PacWave South project, led by Oregon State University, will be grid-connected and allow for up to 20 MW of maximum power output.
The DOE said its funding would support projects focused on three topic areas: testing WEC technologies at PacWave, advancing WEC designs for PacWave, and an open topic — wave energy R&D at PacWave.
The DOE expects the projects to yield open-access data, such as wave, wind and ocean current resource measurements, geotechnical measurements, and environmental monitoring measurements, to benefit of the entire WEC R&D community, improve future WEC system designs for PacWave and lower the costs of future deployment, it said.
“With wave energy, we have the opportunity to add more renewable power to the grid and deploy more sustainable energy to hard to reach communities. DOE’s investments in America’s businesses and universities developing these new technologies will propel our clean energy future,” commented Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm.
Concept papers for this funding opportunity should be sent by August 13, while full applications are due on October 5.
Construction of the PacWave South site started on June 1, 2021. The testing facility should be operational by 2023.
(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.844)
