DOE names Wave Energy Prize competition winner
The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy announced in December that Portland, Ore.-based AquaHarmonics will receive US$1.5 million as the first place winner of the Wave Energy Prize competition.
Two California-based contestants – CalWave Power Technologies out of Berkley and Waveswing America in Sacramento – were awarded second and third place, respectively, with $500,000 and $250,000 in cash prizes.
An 18-month design-build-test competition, the Wave Energy Prize focuses on catalyzing the development of game-changing wave energy converters that will ultimately reduce the cost of wave energy. Wave energy technology could one day provide clean, cost-competitive, reliable energy for homeowners, communities, businesses, and government in geographically suited parts of the U.S., DOE says.
Ninety-two teams registered for the prize beginning in April 2015. A panel of judges ultimately identified nine finalists and two alternates, which were announced in March 2016. These teams received up to $125,000 in seed funding to build scaled prototypes of their devices. With the support of the U.S. Navy, the finalist teams tested their prototype devices at the Naval Surface Warfare Center’s Maneuvering and Seakeeping Basin at Carderock, Md.
The wave energy sector is in its early stages of development, and the diversity of technologies makes it difficult to evaluate the most technically and economically viable solutions, DOE says. The Wave Energy Prize competition has addressed this challenge by comparing a wide range of device types and evaluating them against a threshold requirement for high energy capture.
In the next year, DOE will publish data from all the finalist teams’ test results to further accelerate advancement of this sector.
BOEM presents research on how power cables affect organisms
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has released research related to how electromagnetic fields from submerged power cables affect fish and invertebrates, as part of its work to engage stakeholders on the development of offshore renewable energy.The purpose of this study was to shed light on the potential effects of energized, seabed-deployed power cables on marine organisms, broadly applicable to planned and future renewable energy projects in the Pacific Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) region and other OCS planning areas, BOEM says.
BOEM says the following four key findings stand out:
- Significant differences were not observed in the fish communities living around energized and unenergized cables and natural habitats;
- No compelling evidence was revealed to show that the EMF produced by the energized power cables in this study either attracted or repelled fish or macro invertebrates;
- EMF strength dissipated relatively quickly with distance from the cable and approached background levels at about 1 meter from the cable; and
- Cable burial would not appear necessary strictly for biological reasons.
Researchers placed EMF meters on the sea floor along submerged power cables and collected data over three years. The experimental design tested for the effect of inshore versus deep water cable placement. Researchers conducted 38 days of fish surveys, 30 days of invertebrate studies and 38 days of plant studies.
BOEM’s Office of Renewable Energy Programs oversees the development of offshore wind, wave and current energy.
MRECo receives FERC permit for tidal energy test site
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has approved a preliminary permit submitted by the Marine Renewable Energy Collaborative (MRECo), helping clear the way for development of the Bourne Tidal Test Site in Cape Cod Canal, Mass.
The Bourne complex will include a structure at which turbines up to 100 kW in capacity and 3 meters in diameter can be tested. MRECo representatives said in a press release that energy generated at the site would be locally stored. Thus, the proposal qualifies for FERC’s “Verdant Rule” because the project will not be grid-connected.
“This is the first and very important step to gaining all the regulatory permits required for the test site, which will be the first one in the United States,” MRECo Director John Miller said.
MRECo includes stakeholders in the New England region and receives funding from the Massachusetts Seaport Economic Council. The organization said the Bourne site is intended to facilitate the growth of tidal energy, with a particular eye toward the economic benefits that could come from cultivating the sector.
The group will now begin conducting additional environmental studies as required before starting construction of the site.
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