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Marine Energy in the United States: An Overview of Opportunities
Lead Companies
National Renewable Energy Lab
Lead Researcher (s)
- Levi Kilcher
- Michelle Fogarty
- Michael Lawson
This report summarizes the best available data on U.S. marine energy resources at the national, state, and regional scales. Results are primarily based on U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)-funded marine energy resource assessments for wave, tidal currents, ocean currents, ocean thermal gradients, and river currents.
Technology Application
Marine Energy
Research Category
Technology
Research Sub-Category
Hydrokinetic, Tidal, Wave
Status
complete
Completion Date
2021
- Marine Energy
Marine Energy Performance Metrics
Lead Companies
Sandia National Laboratories
Lead Researcher (s)
- Jesse Roberts
WPTO uses metrics to accomplish a variety of objectives, including enabling consistent evaluation of device performance in marine energy. Defensible and relevant performance metrics are required specifically for project funding decisions (e.g. FOA evaluations & Go/No Go decision points), shorter duration targeted initiatives (e.g. prizes and SBIRs), and generally baselining program and industry progress. Recommendations from reviewers during the 2019 WPTO Peer Review included further developing the use and implementation of performance metrics across the marine energy portfolio to achieve program goals. The MHK program goals are to (1) reduce LCOE of devices harnessing energy from waves, tides, and currents (specifically, targeting an 80% reduction in the cost of energy for wave, tidal, and river energy technologies from modeled reference 2015 baselines by the year 2035), and (2) support near term opportunities for commercialization through Powering the Blue Economy (PBE) markets.
Technology Application
Marine Energy
Research Category
Technology
Research Sub-Category
Wave
Status
ongoing
Completion Date
Expected 2022
- Marine Energy
MHK Data Products and User Community Development (PRIMRE-MHK DATA AND USER COMMUNITY)
Lead Companies
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Sandia National Laboratory (SNL), National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)
Lead Researcher (s)
- Andrea Copping, PNNL
- Cesar Castillo, SNL
- Jon Weers (NREL)
This project’s primary objective is the outreach, engagement, and development of MHK data and information communities, in alignment with WPTO goals. Reducing Barriers to Testing‒ Work with agencies and other groups to ensure that existing data is well-utilized and identify potential improvements to regulatory processes and requirements, Data Sharing and Analysis ‒ Aggregate and analyze data on MHK performance and technology advances, and maintain information sharing platforms to enable dissemination‒ Leverage expertise, technology, data, methods, and lessons from the international MHK community and other offshore scientific and industrial sectors (e.g., offshore wind, oil and gas).
Technology Application
Marine Energy
Research Category
Environmental and Sustainability, Technology
Research Sub-Category
Fish and Aquatic Resources, Hydrokinetic, Renewable Integration, Tidal, Wave
Status
ongoing
Completion Date
Expected 2023
- Marine Energy
Modular NH3 Energy Storage for Ocean Exploration
Lead Companies
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Lead Researcher (s)
- Jian Liu
Renewable power generated from wave energy has faced technological and cost barriers to entry into utility-scale electricity markets. As an alternative, the production of chemical fuels, such as ammonia (NH3) which has high energy density (11.5 MJ/L) and facile storage properties, may open wave energy to new markets including ocean exploration and transportation. The electrochemical method has been studied to synthesize NH3 from air and water at ambient conditions. Based on some recent work on the electrochemical synthesis of NH3, it is possible to achieve an overall conversion efficiency of 10% from wave energy to NH3 through an electrochemical reaction between air and water. If all the recoverable wave energy in the United States (1170 TWh/yr) is used to produce renewable NH3 fuel replacing hydrocarbon fuels, this can help reduce over 300 million tons of CO2 emission every year. Several potential application scenarios at sea have been proposed for renewable NH3 fuel including production and storage for marine shipping and seasonal energy storage for Arctic exploration. Liquefied NH3 has much higher energy density, both gravimetric and volumetric, than a variety of batteries but the energy efficiency of NH3 is lower than modern batteries such as Li-ion. The Levelized cost of storing NH3 prepared using electric energy is less than $0.2/kWh and the storage time can exceed 10,000 hours which indicates that NH3 can be a promising energy storage solution to make use of abundant wave energy. However, there are some safety and environmental concerns involved in the usage of NH3 at sea. The challenges in the electrochemical catalyst for the NH3 synthesis and how molecular simulation may help to screen electrocatalyst with high efficiency and selectivity were also briefly discussed.
Technology Application
Marine Energy
Research Category
Technology
Research Sub-Category
Wave
Status
ongoing
Completion Date
TBD
- Marine Energy
Next Gen WEC PTO CO-Design
Lead Companies
Sandia National Laboratories
Lead Researcher (s)
- Ryan Coe
This work plan describes a project targeted at developing the next generation of wave energy converter (WEC) power take-off (PTO) systems by employing a “co-design” approach, in which predictionless WEC control is used to provide a framework for tuning system dynamics to minimize LCOE. This three year project will deliver dramatic reductions in LCOE by developing methods for co-design design of the full WEC system, which includes hydrodynamics, PTO, and control. WECs are unique from other existing energy generation technologies. Instead of converting relatively steady input mechanical energy that fluctuates about some mean (e.g., wind, nuclear, hydroelectric), WECs must absorb a purely oscillatory energy input. This unique quality necessitates the usage of advanced control to maximize energy generation and minimize levelized cost of energy (LCOE). Control strategies can be used to shape the dynamic response of a WEC to achieve resonance and increase energy absorption by as much as 200% (see, e.g., [1-3]). However, WECs comprise complex hydrodynamic, mechanical, electrical, and sometimes hydraulic subsystems, all of which must be properly designed to be capable of accurately implementing a control strategy in order to reap the benefits of advanced control. Additionally, energy absorption does not necessarily equate with energy generation.
Technology Application
Marine Energy
Research Category
Technology
Research Sub-Category
Wave
Status
ongoing
Completion Date
TBD
- Marine Energy
Oscilla FOA 1663
Lead Companies
Sandia National Laboratories
Lead Researcher (s)
- Ryan Coe
The overarching goal of this project is to successfully improve, build, test and validate an improved, higher power density LHD at 1:10 scale with power dissipation and active control implemented.
Technology Application
Marine Energy
Research Category
Technology
Research Sub-Category
Wave
Status
ongoing
Completion Date
TBD
- Marine Energy
Predictive Online Monitoring of Polymer Tendons (PrOMPT)
Lead Companies
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Lead Researcher (s)
- Leo Fifield
Wave energy convertors (WECs), such as the Oscilla Triton-C, depend on flexible, polymeric connecting mooring lines, ropes, or tendons, for their energy harvesting mechanism. Operational stresses, such as abrasion, can limit the fatigue life of tendons, leading to early or unexpected failure. Installation, operation, and maintenance (IO&M) costs could be reduced with incorporation of sensing features that indicate tendon degradation to extend inspection intervals and provide forewarning of impending failure. In this work, we demonstrate preliminary abrasion sensing capability of polymer tendons and evaluate opportunities for online monitoring of these and similar polymer ropes used in waterpower technologies.
Technology Application
Marine Energy
Research Category
Technology
Research Sub-Category
Wave
Status
ongoing
Completion Date
TBD
- Marine Energy
SNL Wave-SPARC Prize Support
Lead Companies
Sandia National Laboratories
Lead Researcher (s)
- Jesse Roberts
The goal of this WaveSPARC prize scoping project to maximize the beneficial impact of a thriving WaveSPARC community. This prize may be funded in the near future. Diligent prize preparation under a formal prize is necessary but not sufficient. Thorough derisking of the most challenging and novel elements of the prize and setting the groundwork for the prize to achieve its core values is essential. WaveSPARC has been a lab-led effort since 1 October 2014 focused on spurring early-stage marine energy innovation that can be further developed by industry for commercial applications. WaveSPARC provides innovation and assessment tools to support grid-scale wave energy converter (WEC) design concepts with high technology performance levels and low technology readiness levels. It has developed publicly accessible techno-economic assessment tools, novel WEC concepts, and functional requirements for WEC arrays. By introducing a WaveSPARC Prize, the publicly available and well-received tools created by WaveSPARC would be further propagated and utilized by those within the marine energy industry, as well as associated industries such as materials and soft robotics, among others. The prize would also help spur innovation and collaboration in WEC designs that follow WaveSPARC methodologies.
Technology Application
Marine Energy
Research Category
Technology
Research Sub-Category
Wave
Status
ongoing
Completion Date
Expected 2022
Don’t see your waterpower research?
Have questions about WaRP?
Contact Marla Barnes at: marla@hydro.org