[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 85 (Monday, May 4, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25286-25287]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-10409]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
Wave Energy Prize
AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Department of
Energy.
ACTION: Notice of the Wave Energy Prize.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) gives notice of the
availability of the Wave Energy Prize and of DOE's responses to public
comments on the draft Prize Rules and Prize Terms and Conditions. The
prize is designed to achieve game-changing performance enhancements to
wave energy conversion (WEC) devices, establishing a pathway to
sweeping cost reductions on a commercial scale. The prize consists of
three phases--design, build, and test and evaluation. Prize purses to
the winner(s): Grand Prize ($1,500,000), 2nd Place Finisher ($500,000),
and 3rd Place Finisher ($250,000).
DATES: DOE launches the Wave Energy Prize and opens the Prize for
public registration on May 1, 2015. The Winner(s) of the Prize, if any,
is expected to be announced by the end of 2016. All dates are subject
to change.
ADDRESSES: Interested persons can register for the Wave Energy Prize at
waveenergyprize.org on the ``Register'' page. The final Prize Rules,
the final Prize Terms and Conditions, and DOE's responses to public
comments on the draft Prize Rules and Prize Terms and Conditions, can
all be found are found under the ``Rules'' tab of the ``About'' page.
Please submit questions and comments to: waveenergyprize.org">info@waveenergyprize.org.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Please submit questions and comments
to: waveenergyprize.org">info@waveenergyprize.org.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of
2010 (America COMPETES), Public Law 111-358, enacted January 4, 2011,
authorizes Federal agencies to issue competitions to stimulate
innovations in technology, education, and science. The Wave Energy
Prize leverages the America COMPETES Act to provide incentives to
design, build, and test innovative WEC concepts.
DOE launches the Wave Energy Prize, a public prize challenge
sponsored by DOE's Water Power Program. The prize is designed to
increase the diversity of organizations involved in WEC technology
development, while motivating and inspiring existing stakeholders. DOE
envisions this competition will achieve game-changing performance
enhancements to WEC devices, establishing a pathway to sweeping cost
reductions on a commercial scale.
The wave energy industry is young and is experiencing many new
innovations as evidenced by a sustained growth in patent activity.
While the private industry is developing these early-concept WEC
devices through design and benchtop prototype testing, funding is hard
to secure for performance testing and evaluation of WEC devices in wave
tanks at a meaningful scale. This is a problem for the industry since
scaled WEC prototype tank testing, validation, and evaluation are key
steps in the advancement of WEC technologies through the technical
readiness levels to reach commercialization.
Goal of the Wave Energy Prize: The Wave Energy Prize will encourage
the development of more efficient WEC devices that double the energy
captured from ocean waves, which in turn will reduce the cost of wave
energy, making it more competitive with traditional energy solutions.
Economic impact of the Wave Energy Prize: A successful Wave Energy
Prize could jump-start private sector innovation critical to the
country's long-term economic growth, energy security, and international
competitiveness in the wave energy conversion sector.
Why participate in the Wave Energy Prize? The Wave Energy Prize
seeks to attract innovative ideas from developers new to the industry
and next-generation ideas from existing developers by offering a
monetary prize purse and providing an opportunity for tank testing and
evaluation of scaled WEC device prototypes at the U.S. Navy's
Maneuvering and Seakeeping Basin (MASK) facility in Carderock, MD.
Eligibility: U.S. entities are able to participate in the Wave
Energy Prize. This includes U.S. persons and companies as well as
foreign companies that are incorporated in and maintain a primary place
of business in the United States. Full eligibility requirements for the
Wave Energy Prize are set in accordance with those established by
America COMPETES, and are fully outlined in the Wave Energy Prize Rules
[[Page 25287]]
document available at waveenergyprize.org.
Selection of winner(s): Average Climate Capture Width per
Characteristic Capital Expenditure (ACE) has been selected by the Wave
Energy Prize as a reduced content metric that is a proxy for levelized
cost of energy. To be eligible for consideration for prize purses, WEC
devices tested during the Prize must exceed a threshold value of ACE of
three meters per million dollars, representing a 100% increase, or
doubling, of ACE above the current ``state of the art'' in
representative sea states and deep water. WEC devices that surpass the
ACE threshold will be ranked according to their Hydrodynamic
Performance Quality (HPQ), a metric that holistically evaluates WEC
performance and reliability. This HPQ ranking will be used to determine
the Grand Prize Winner, 2nd Place Finisher, and 3rd Place Finisher of
the Wave Energy Prize. Further details on these technical requirements
are available in the Prize Rules and Terms and Conditions at
waveenergyprize.org.
Issued on April 27, 2015 in Washington, DC.
Jos[eacute] Zayas,
Director, Wind and Water Power Technologies Office, Office of Energy
Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
[FR Doc. 2015-10409 Filed 5-1-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P