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- Asset Management
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Tools for Innovation
Lead Companies
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Sandia National Laboratory (SNL)
Lead Researcher (s)
- Simon Geerlofs, PNNL
- Bernadette Hernandez-Sanchez, SNL
This project supports research, analysis and strategy refinement in the area of Marine Energy Materials and Manufacturing. Specifically, activities under this project include engaging with additional stakeholders, including other DOE EERE office personnel as well as external industry and university experts working in the materials and manufacturing space, to refine and finalize the draft strategy under development for WPTO on Marine Energy Materials and Manufacturing. Additionally, working with WPTO to guide oversight of FOA projects focused on materials and manufacturing R&D.
Technology Application
Marine Energy
Research Category
Technology
Research Sub-Category
Hydrokinetic
Status
ongoing
Completion Date
Expected 2022
- Marine Energy
Towards Resolving the Risk of Turbine Collision on Fish
Lead Companies
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Lead Researcher (s)
- Lysel Garavelli
This project lays out the steps needed to understand collision risk for fish and charts a path to delivering the information needed to facilitate and accelerate permitting of marine energy projects.
Technology Application
Marine Energy
Research Category
Environmental and Sustainability
Research Sub-Category
Environmental Impact
Status
complete
Completion Date
2021
- Marine Energy
Triton Initiative
Lead Companies
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Lead Researcher (s)
- Alicia Amerson
The aim of the Triton Initiative is to reduce the overall costs and increase the effectiveness of the environmental monitoring at MHK installations. This is achieved by: 1) supporting research and development to improve the technical performance of environmental monitoring devices (Funding Opportunity Awardee (FOA Support)2) improving the quality and relevance of the data collected by such devices (Fish Mesocosm Studies); and 3) standardizing monitoring technologies and data streams to improve comparability and between-project data transferability (Triton Field Trials – TFIT). This streamlines the evaluation processes required for MHK developments by targeting key environmental issues and establishing efficient ways to measure and monitor the environment and devices. Ultimately, these activities will accelerate the permitting process, which benefits regulators, developers and ocean users, and will reduce the cost of marine renewable energy.
Technology Application
Marine Energy
Research Category
Technology
Research Sub-Category
Hydrokinetic
Status
ongoing
Completion Date
TBD
- Marine Energy
TSDat: An open_source Data Standardization Framework for Marine Energy and Beyond
Lead Companies
NREL
Lead Researcher (s)
- Rebecca Fao
- Frederick Driscoll
Many organizations are tasked with the collection and processing of large quantities of data from various measurement devices. Data reported from these sources are often not interoperable with datasets and software used by analysts and other organizations in the same domain, introducing barriers for collaboration on large-scale projects. This poses a particular problem for cross-device comparisons and machine learning applications, which rely on large quantities of data from multiple sources. To address these challenges, the open-source Time-Series Data Pipelines (Tsdat) Python framework was developed by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, with strategic guidance and direction provided by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories to facilitate collaboration and accelerate advancements in the marine energy domain through the development of an open-source ecosystem of tools. This paper will describe the Tsdat framework and the data standards within which it operates. A beta version of Tsdat has been released and is being used by several projects in marine energy, wind energy, and building energy systems. Technology Application
Marine Energy
Research Category
Research Sub-Category
Status
complete
Completion Date
2020
- Marine Energy
U.S. TEAMER Support
Lead Companies
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Sandia National Laboratory (SNL)
Lead Researcher (s)
- Nicole Sather, PNNL
- Jesse Roberts, SNL
The U.S. Testing Expertise and Access for Marine Energy Research (TEAMER) Program provides access to MHK testing facilities, as well as expertise to increase rigor and standardize data collection, and allow for transparent analysis and comparison of performance. PNNL's role (along with NREL and Sandia) is to provide input into the strategic vision of TEAMER, serve on the Technical Board for test participant selections, provide access to test facilities and environmental permits (as needed), provide expert testing assistance and training during testing, develop standardized protocols for data collection and testing (in coordination with Network Director) to be provided and adhered to by test participants, consult and utilize international standards as appropriate, provide numerical modeling and engineering expertise to participants, and provide routine feedback to U.S. TEAMER Management Team for how the program is working and opportunities for improvement
Technology Application
Marine Energy
Research Category
Environmental and Sustainability, Technology
Research Sub-Category
Fish and Aquatic Resources
Status
ongoing
Completion Date
2025
- Marine Energy
Wave Energy Converter Design Optimization
Lead Companies
Sandia National Laboratories
Lead Researcher (s)
- Ryan Coe
Wave energy converter (WEC) designs to date—including Reference Model (RM) designs by the DOE and those submitted for the Wave Energy Prize—have followed a traditional design/build/test approach that requires potentially costly iteration. There are two significant shortcomings with this design approach: (1) WEC design theory builds on knowledge from naval architecture and offshore engineering, but fails to fully utilize design/analysis tools for oscillating systems (e.g., from electronics), and (2) current WEC design is ad-hoc, where designers clarify overarching system parameters to define the geometry of the device, then design a control system that is constrained by the hydrodynamics of that previously set geometry. More robust, analytical design approaches, utilizing optimization algorithms, have yet to take hold in the WEC development community, due to the lack of an efficient modeling/control design approach. This project seeks to overcome these critical issues in WEC design by creating a hybrid optimization system that simultaneously optimizes geometry and controls of existing WEC concepts. Highly-efficient model/analysis approaches which utilize pseudo-spectral methods to consider the dynamics of the entire system will be leveraged with this optimization system. Using the tool developed by this project, existing WEC concepts can be optimized for reduced LCOE and reduced CapEx/O&M costs.B) GOVERNMENT ROLE: These projects are collaborations between Sandia National Labs and private WEC developers. These collaborations allow these WEC developers to access unique engineering expertise at Sandia.
Technology Application
Marine Energy
Research Category
Technology
Research Sub-Category
Wave
Status
ongoing
Completion Date
TBD
- Marine Energy
Wave Energy Converter Interlink
Lead Companies
PNNL
Lead Researcher (s)
- Leo Fifield
This project led by NREL and PNNL, in partnership with offshore cable experts Delmar Systems Inc. (Delmar) and the University of Southampton, will accelerate the development and reduce LCOE of commercial wave energy systems by empowering the design and utilization of robust and cost-effective medium voltage power and communication umbilicals that connect floating WECs to subsea transmission lines. This two-year project will utilize accepted industry practices from offshore wind and oil & gas and existing software tools (WEC-Sim and OrcaFlex) to evaluate the lifecycle mechanical and electrical performance of interlink umbilicals (umbilicals), define expected requirements, and make suggested improvements based on a techno-economic evaluation.
Technology Application
Marine Energy
Research Category
Technology
Research Sub-Category
Wave
Status
ongoing
Completion Date
TBD
- Marine Energy
Wave Energy Converter Modeling
Lead Companies
Sandia National Laboratories
Lead Researcher (s)
- Kelley Ruehl
The Labs have developed and released open source codes (e.g. WEC-Sim) that are readily used by the wave energy community and require basic maintenance to support the growing user community. Additionally, the Labs are involved in several international efforts (i.e. international community on WEC model verification and validation, control competition and standards development) which require the continued Lab support in order to be successful. This project supports development and maintenance of DOE WPTO funded open sources codes (e.g. WEC-Sim), in addition to supporting international collaborations through the IEA OES Task 10 code validation, and IEC TC 114 standards development. In FY21, additional efforts also include an overhaul maintenance/clean-up of WEC-Sim and open-source Boundary Element Method (BEM) code improvement.
Technology Application
Marine Energy
Research Category
Technology
Research Sub-Category
Wave
Status
ongoing
Completion Date
Expected 2023
- Marine Energy
Wave-SPARC (Structured Innovation)
Lead Companies
Sandia National Laboratories
Lead Researcher (s)
- Jesse Roberts
Three novel WEC technology concepts with high techno-economic performance potential will be delivered and capable of achieving the DOE/EERE/WWPTO program goals for successful commercial and economic operation of U.S. WEC technology reaching domestic and global wave energy markets. These technologies will be developed and described up to TRL3 and verified and validated to deliver TPL7 or higher. The Intellectual Property (IP) associated with these novel WEC technology concepts described will be checked for Freedom or Operation and published in patents format to protect against counter contra patenting attempts and openly provided to the US WEC technology development industry. This important project outcome and the subsequent full technology development of these concepts by the U.S. industry to TRL9 while maintaining TPL7+ will satisfy the entry requirements for wave energy into the large electricity market of continental power grids. This overall outcome has the strong potential to enable technology convergence, engage important original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), attract investment, develop strong supply chains, and deliver the required disruptive step-change improvement of techno-economic performance to achieve economic viability and commercial operation – the maximum desirable big outcome. All applied, customized and newly developed methodologies and tools for WEC technology assessment and innovation will be provided to the U.S. industry for their own use. This will enable industry to independently develop novel high potential WEC technology concepts as well as assess and fundamentally improve and advance their technologies currently under development. The labs will fully support this effort in the form of objectively conducted assessments and innovation services.
Technology Application
Marine Energy
Research Category
Technology
Research Sub-Category
Hydrokinetic, Wave
Status
ongoing
Completion Date
Expected 2024
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Have questions about WaRP?
Contact Marla Barnes at: marla@hydro.org