The Department of Energy is investing $25 million in eight technology projects aimed at harnessing the power of sea waves to generate electricity.
These projects compose the initial round of open-water testing at the PacWave South open-ocean test site off Oregon’s coast, DOE said Tuesday.
DOE selected the projects through a funding opportunity launched by the department’s Water Power Technologies Office.
The projects will focus on wave energy converter designs, as well as technologies that operators would use to manage and control these converters.
“Harnessing the unrelenting power of the ocean is a clean, innovative and sustainable way to curtail carbon pollution — benefitting American businesses and families, especially coastal communities hit hardest by the impacts of climate change,” said Jennifer Granholm, the secretary of energy.
The awardees and their corresponding award values are:
- CalWave Power Technologies: $7.5 million
- Columbia Power Technologies: $4.2 million
- Dehlsen Associates: $1.8 million
- Integral Consulting: $379,329
- Littoral Power Systems: $3.9 million
- Oscilla Power: $1.8 million
- Portland State University: $4.5 million
- University of Washington: $1.3 million
