Welcome to WaRP, NHA’s new Waterpower Research Portal.

As a result of the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) 1663, Marine and Hydrokinetic Technology Development and Advancement, a team led by AquaHarmonics, Inc. (AH), that includes Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) was selected as one of the FOA award recipients. The main objective of the proposed project is to advance the technology readiness of the AquaHarmonics’ device, by developing a 1:7th scale prototype and conducting an open water testing for an extended period (~12 months) at the Navy’s Wave Energy Test Site (WETS). During the open water testing, it is expected that the device will maintain an Average Climate Capture Width per Characteristic Capital Expenditure (ACE) target of at least 3m/M$, as has been demonstrated previously on a smaller scale device during the Wave Energy Prize competition. SNL will leverage its capability and experience in WEC design and testing to assist AquaHarmonics in WEC dry and open water testing, device design and PTO-control model development.

Sandia National Laboratories is partnering with California Wave Power Technologies, LLC (CalWave) to advance its wave energy converter (WEC) technology by broadening device controls beyond the power take-off system. The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Small Business Vouchers(SBV) Pilot program funded this project. CalWave was the first runner-up in the Wave Energy Prize, an 18-month design-build-test competition that produced a technology leap in WEC devices. Through this project, Sandia will collaborate with Calwave to improve the device capability in efficiently absorbing energy from ocean waves and to potentially integrate PTO control approaches into existing schemes of overall device control.

As a result of the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) 1663, Marine and Hydrokinetic Technology Development and Advancement, a team led by the California Wave Power Technologies, LLC (CWPT) that includes University of California Berkeley, Bardex Corporation, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) was selected as one of the FOA award recipients. The main objective of the proposed project is to advance the technology readiness of the CWPT’s wave energy converter (WEC) device, by developing a scaled prototype and conducting an open water testing for an extended period (~ 9 months). During the open water testing, it is expected that the device will maintain an Average Climate Capture Width per Characteristic Capital Expenditure (ACE) target of at least 3m/M$, as has been demonstrated previously on a smaller scale device during the Wave Energy Prize competition. SNL will leverage their experience in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling and WEC testing to assist CalWave in device design, analysis and reporting.

This project supports CalWave and Portland State University in the development of power take offs (PTOs) for Wave Energy Converters (WECs) using a control co-design approach. CalWave and Portland State University have been selected (separately) as award recipients of Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) 1837, TA2 Controls and Power Take Off (PTO) Design Integration and Testing. The project focuses on early‐stage design of PTO and control systems in parallel (control co-design approach), which has been shown to provide significant improvements in terms of performance when compared to the classical “sequential” approach, when the control system is designed after the PTO. The project is divided in two tasks: Task 1 supports CalWave; Task 2 supports Portland State University (PSU). The main challenge in the design of a PTO for WECs is to provide both energy storage and high degree of controllability in order to tune the device to the current sea state. The approach considered in Task 1 (CalWave) is to design an electro/hydraulic system with distributed storage that allows the implementation of an approximate impedance matching controller at high conversion efficiency. In Task 2 (PSU) the energy storage is performed by a magnetic spring and the control is implemented on an electrical generator. The magnetic spring is adjustable and it allows the WEC to be tuned and operate efficiently on a broad range of sea states. The PTO designed in Task 2 will be tested on the AquaHarmonics device at 1:50 scale (AquaHarmonics is partner in the project awarded to PSU).

Projects funded under the WEC AOI will be the first step in WPTO’s efforts to support designing, building, and testing WEC systems in the fully energetic wave environment at PacWave-South. This type of full-scale testing in the open ocean is required to accurately access device performance due to limitations inherent in laboratory testing at reduced scales and in simulated wave environments. Lessons learned and data collected during PacWave-South tests will be used to inform the next generation device designs to expeditiously advance wave energy technologies. However, before devices can be tested at PacWave-South, robust system designs that satisfy rigorous engineering requirements and standards that ensure reliable device operation in highly energetic wave climates (> 40 kW/m) must be developed. This builds on previous open-ocean testing at the US Navy’s Wave Energy Test Site (WETS) in Kaneohe, Hawaii to continue building the foundational knowledge and data that will enable the performance and reliability improvements needed for cost reductions. The wave energy at the PacWav South test site is on average four times more energetic than the WETS test site and provides the forceful conditions necessary to rigorously test the resiliency of devices. Applicants must propose detailed work plans to develop WEC designs that are capable of two years of continuous testing and operations at PacWave-South test site utilizing the physical characteristics and wave climate at that location. The designs must incorporate the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) Technical Specifications (TS) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standards to ensure that designs are final and fully ready to utilize for future shipyard fabrication and open-water testing via future funding opportunities.

Projects funded under the WEC AOI will be the first step in WPTO’s efforts to support designing, building, and testing WEC systems in the fully energetic wave environment at PacWave-South. This type of full-scale testing in the open ocean is required to accurately access device performance due to limitations inherent in laboratory testing at reduced scales and in simulated wave environments. Lessons learned and data collected during PacWave-South tests will be used to inform the next generation device designs to expeditiously advance wave energy technologies. However, before devices can be tested at PacWave-South, robust system designs that satisfy rigorous engineering requirements and standards that ensure reliable device operation in highly energetic wave climates (> 40 kW/m) must be developed. This builds on previous open-ocean testing at the US Navy’s Wave Energy Test Site (WETS) in Kaneohe, Hawaii to continue building the foundational knowledge and data that will enable the performance and reliability improvements needed for cost reductions. The wave energy at the PacWav South test site is on average four times more energetic than the WETS test site and provides the forceful conditions necessary to rigorously test the resiliency of devices. Applicants must propose detailed work plans to develop WEC designs that are capable of two years of continuous testing and operations at PacWave-South test site utilizing the physical characteristics and wave climate at that location. The designs must incorporate the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) Technical Specifications (TS) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standards to ensure that designs are final and fully ready to utilize for future shipyard fabrication and open-water testing via future funding opportunities.

Projects funded under the WEC AOI will be the first step in WPTO’s efforts to support designing, building, and testing WEC systems in the fully energetic wave environment at PacWave-South. This type of full-scale testing in the open ocean is required to accurately access device performance due to limitations inherent in laboratory testing at reduced scales and in simulated wave environments. Lessons learned and data collected during PacWave-South tests will be used to inform the next generation device designs to expeditiously advance wave energy technologies. However, before devices can be tested at PacWave-South, robust system designs that satisfy rigorous engineering requirements and standards that ensure reliable device operation in highly energetic wave climates (> 40 kW/m) must be developed. This builds on previous open-ocean testing at the US Navy’s Wave Energy Test Site (WETS) in Kaneohe, Hawaii to continue building the foundational knowledge and data that will enable the performance and reliability improvements needed for cost reductions. The wave energy at the PacWav South test site is on average four times more energetic than the WETS test site and provides the forceful conditions necessary to rigorously test the resiliency of devices. Applicants must propose detailed work plans to develop WEC designs that are capable of two years of continuous testing and operations at PacWave-South test site utilizing the physical characteristics and wave climate at that location. The designs must incorporate the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) Technical Specifications (TS) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standards to ensure that designs are final and fully ready to utilize for future shipyard fabrication and open-water testing via future funding opportunities.

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%.