The US Department of Energy has selected nine consortia and two reserve teams to contest the third and final stage of its $2.25m Wave Energy Prize.
The finalists are:
• AquaHarmonics of Portland, Oregon
• CalWave of Berkeley, California
• M3 Wave of Salem, Oregon
• Oscilla Power of Seattle, Washington
• RTI Wave Power of York, Maine
• Sea Potential of Bristol, Rhode Island
• SEWEC of Redwood City, California
• Wavefront Power (Team FLAPPER) of Research Triangle Park, North Carolina
• Waveswing America of Sacramento, California
The two alternate teams are McNatt Ocean Energy of Annapolis, Maryland and Wave Energy Conversion Corporation of America of North Bethesda, Maryland.
Each of the finalists and alternates will now receive seed funding from DOE to develop a larger, 1:20 scale model of their wave energy devices.
Testing will take place this summer the Naval Surface Warfare Centre’s Manoeuvring and Seakeeping Basin at Carderock, Maryland.
The prize is a 20-month design-build-test competition that aims to double the energy captured from ocean waves. The second round last August saw the initial 92 teams entered in Spring 2015 whittled down to 20.
Image: Gen 1 wave energy generator (Oscilla Power)
