U.S. Made Renewable Ocean Energy Prizes Drive Innovation

The U.S. Department of Energy recently announced developments in two new prizes.

Waves to Water challenges innovators to desalinate water using the power of ocean waves.

The Powering the Blue Economy Ocean Observing Prize, sponsored by DOE and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, challenges innovators to pair marine renewable energy technologies with ocean observing platforms.

The announcements were made at a White House multi-agency public-private partnership summit focused on accelerating science, technology and research in the oceans.

Wave to Water is a four-stage, $2.5-million competition that is now in the second stage, Design. It seeks to accelerate technology innovation in wave energy-powered desalination systems.
The prize has four stages that support concepts through demonstration. The final stage is an open-water testing competition where the systems will produce clean water using the power of waves. Innovators can currently apply for the Design stage.

The Ocean Observing Prize will award up to $3 million in cash, as well as other in-kind benefits in two competition stages — Discover and Develop.

The first stage, Discover, is now open. It will solicit novel concepts that integrate ocean observing technologies with marine energy systems to address end-user needs across five broad themes: 1) unmanned vehicles, communications and underwater navigation; (3) extreme environments; (4) buoys, floats and tags; and (5) blue sea ideas (i.e., other).

For more information on these competitions and how your team can enter, please visit the Water Power Technologies Office Prizes and Competitions website. For all American-Made Challenges, visit https://americanmadechallenges.org/.