The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO) announced over $16 million in new projects to further hydropower and marine energy research and development.
These awards encompass $5.6 million for hydropower projects and $10.5 million for marine energy projects across six national laboratories.
Hydropower accounts for 31.5% of U.S. renewable electricity generation and 6.3% of the country’s total electricity generation. While marine energy is not widely deployed across the country, the total available marine renewable energy in the United States is equivalent to approximately 57% of all U.S. power generation in 2019.
These projects will advance hydropower and marine energy technologies and their roles in achieving both national and local clean energy goals.
Researchers at Argonne National Laboratory (Argonne), Idaho National Laboratory (INL), National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), and Sandia National Laboratories (Sandia) will lead these projects.
All of the hydropower projects and four of the marine energy projects (under the New Remote Coastal Community Work—Microgrid Application and Environmental Monitoring Campaign topics) are funded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The remaining marine energy projects are funded through WPTO’s Fiscal Year 2022 appropriations.
The projects announced include $2.7 million in Marine Energy “Sapling” projects and $1.1 million in Hydropower “Seedlings” projects.
WPTO developed the Seedlings and Saplings program to encourage and provide short term funding to new and innovative research ideas in hydropower and marine energy at the DOE national laboratories.
Projects start as Seedlings eligible for up to $100,000. Promising Seedling projects are then eligible to become Saplings with funding of $150,000 to $500,000.
