DOE issues oceanic science, technology and research challenges

The Department of Energy (DOE) has issued a pair of challenges designed to place focus on accelerating science, technology and research in the oceans.

The Waves to Water challenge seeks innovators to desalinate water using the power of ocean waves. The Powering the Blue Economy Ocean Observing Prize is a joint DOE-National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) prize endeavor seeking innovators to pair marine renewable energy technologies with ocean observing platforms.

“Innovative challenges such as Waves to Water and Powering the Blue Economy are a great way to enhance partnerships between industry and the research community by unlocking the energy potential of our oceans,” Under Secretary Mark Menezes said. “By leveraging these collaborations we can enable ingenuity in marine renewable energy and strengthen America’s economic growth and energy security.”

The DOE said the Waves to Water Stage 2 – DESIGN competition is now open, offering up to $800,000 in prizes while challenging competitors to provide modeling documentation and a plan to advance their concepts through the remaining stages of the prize.

The overall prize will culminate at Stage 4 – DRINK, requiring competitors to demonstrate their full-scale system at an open water test site.

The Ocean Observing Prize is now open for submissions and contains a number of competitions, with the first being the Discover Competition. This competition will be followed by a Develop Competition which will focus on a single theme and challenge contestants to develop ideas into a functioning prototype.

The Discover and Develop Competitions will award up to $3 million in cash prizes as well as other in-kind awards.