The US Department of Energy’s Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO) is to provide multi-million dollar funding to support marine energy research in the country.
WPTO has published a notice of intent to issue a US$14.5m funding opportunity to support marine energy research at US institutions of higher education, including minority-serving institutions.
WPTO expects to release this funding opportunity in fall 2023 in partnership with DOE’s Wind Energy Technologies Office (WETO).
Foundational research is critical to advancing novel and new technologies like marine energy and floating offshore wind, the agency said.
Marine energy refers to power harnessed from waves, tides, ocean and river currents, and even from differences in ocean salt levels, temperatures, and pressure.
While marine energy is not yet widely deployed across the country, the total available marine energy resource in the United States is equivalent to approximately 57% of all US power generation in 2019, WPTO said.
Floating offshore wind has 2.8TW of potential power, which if fully developed would equate to more than double the current US electricity consumption.
The fund will support projects focused on generating publicly available (open-source) data and information on cost reductions and performance improvements of marine energy devices for use by the industry and other stakeholders.
It also covers studies that assess and advance potential synergies between floating offshore wind and/or marine energy and aquaculture development and exploring promising pathways to maximise benefits.
This topic area is a joint effort between WPTO and WETO.
The funding will also support undergraduate senior design and/or research projects in marine energy, and there is also an open topic area where applicants can propose activities that address the needs of the marine energy industry not covered by other topic areas.
The full notice of intent is available on the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s Funding Opportunity Exchange.