On Tuesday, March 20, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Water Power Program notified potential future applicants of an upcoming Funding Opportunity Announcement tentatively titled, “In-Water Wave Energy Conversion (WEC) Device Testing Support.”
DOE intends to fund one industry-led project that will deploy and test a WEC device for one year. The device will be deployed at the Navy Wave Energy Test Site facility in Kaneohe Bay on the Hawaiian Island of Oahu.
Through the deployment of a WEC at its Wave Energy Test Site, the Navy hopes to determine if WEC technology is a viable option to assist the Department of Defense in achieving its renewable energy goal of producing or procuring up to 25% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2025. By assisting with the Navy’s WEC testing activity, DOE’s Water Power Program will further integrate test and performance data into numerical models to establish baseline cost of energy to assess key cost drivers and identify cost reduction pathways.
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Offshore WIND staff, March 27, 2012