U.S. Department of Energy’s Wave Energy Prize to Include 92 Teams

Participants Embark Upon Competition for Prize Purse of More Than $2 Million

Wave energy enthusiasts from industry and academia have formed 92 teams to move toward the first milestone of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Wave Energy Prize. This design-build-test competition is encouraging the development of game-changing wave energy conversion (WEC) devices that will achieve the DOE’s goal of doubling energy capture, thus reducing the cost of wave energy and making it more competitive with traditional energy solutions.

These official registered teams will now begin working to double the energy captured from ocean waves and win a prize purse totaling more than $2 million.

Background information on the official registered teams can be found on the Wave Energy Prize website.

“We’re extremely pleased with both the quantity of teams and the diversity of participants reflecting broad expertise from so many established companies in the ocean energy space, universities, and newcomers to the industry,” said Julie Zona, Wave Energy Prize Administrator. “The composition of the participating teams truly demonstrates one of the benefits of a prize challenge, which is to encourage the inclusion of new perspectives. We’re very hopeful that the diverse backgrounds of these teams will help lead to the Prize’s goal of achieving game-changing performance enhancements to wave energy technologies.”

Registration for the Wave Energy Prize opened on April 27 and closed on June 30. Since registering, the teams have begun work on the first requirement for the Prize, a technical submission describing their concepts, due July 15, which will be reviewed by a panel of expert judges. Based on their technical submissions, up to 20 of the top teams will be named qualified teams in an announcement scheduled for mid-August. Qualified teams will build a 1/50th scale model and will participate in small-scale tank testing for validation of their design concepts. Finalist teams, which will be announced in March 2016, will have the opportunity to receive seed money to build 1/20th scale WEC prototypes that will undergo tank testing at the nation's most advanced wave-making facility, the Naval Surface Warfare Center's Maneuvering and Seakeeping (MASK) Basin at Carderock, Md., beginning in the summer of 2016.