Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) are partnering with M3 Wave, LLC (M3 Wave) to adapt its deep-water modeling tool, NEXUS, to track differential wave energy by re-creating conditions common on the ocean floor. They will provide modeling support to help M3 Wave better understand how the mooring system for its wave energy converter (WEC) contributes to system dynamics. This project was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Small Business Vouchers(SBV) program, which provides clean energy small businesses access to select national laboratories. M3 Wave was also a finalist in theWave Energy Prize, an 18-month design-build-test competition that produced a technology leap in WEC devices. In this project, NREL, SNL, and M3 Wave are developing a more complex modeling system to predict and increase areas of WEC efficiency of up to 25%.
