The US Department of Energy’s Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO) announced an intent (DE-FOA-0003427) to provide up to $112.5 million in funding to advance the commercial readiness of wave energy technologies through open water testing and system validation.

• Topic Area 1 leverages wave energy technologies that provide power to distributed blue economy applications.

• Topic Area 2 aims to develop functional wave energy technologies for coastal and island stakeholders (may or may not be grid-connected).

• Topic Area 3 allows for maturing grid connected technologies that demonstrate reliable power generation direct to a utility.

DOE anticipates opening this funding opportunity in or around September 2024.

Wave energy converters (WECs) harness power from ocean waves. Wave energy is abundant and complementary to other renewable energy sources, such as wind energy and solar power. While wave energy is not yet widely deployed across the country, the total available wave energy resource in the United States is equivalent to approximately 34% of all US power generation.

Even if only a portion of this technical resource potential is captured, wave energy technologies would make significant contributions to US energy needs. Marine energy, including wave energy, could power the US electric grid and coastal communities. It could provide local, affordable, clean energy to rural and remote island communities, which often rely on expensive shipments of fossil fuels. Marine energy technologies can also power offshore work and the blue economy.

The proposed opportunity is designed to reduce risks for deployments, increase the potential for commercial adoption through longer-duration demonstrations (expected to last nearly two years), and offer additional benefits to help quickly advance WECs.

This includes the ability to identify and mature high-potential WEC technologies, reduce financial risks for developers and incentivize investors, progress technologies at smaller scales while developing toward utility scale, and increase learning for installation, operations, and maintenance.