SBIR-STTR Award

Reliability Enhancement and Preliminary Ocean Demonstration of Low Cost Wave Energy Harvester
Award last edited on: 12/17/2013

Sponsored Program
SBIR
Awarding Agency
DOE
Total Award Amount
$1,149,940
Award Phase
2
Solicitation Topic Code
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Principal Investigator
Balakrishnan Nair

Company Information

Oscilla Power Inc (AKA: OPI)

4240 Gilman Place West
Seattle, WA 98199
   (206) 557-7032
   info@oscillapower.com
   www.oscillapower.com
Location: Multiple
Congr. District: 07
County: King

Phase I

Contract Number: ----------
Start Date: ----    Completed: ----
Phase I year
2011
Phase I Amount
$149,940
Wave energy, a promising source of renewable power generation, is unlikely to make a material contribution to US or global energy supplies unless more cost effective and robust technologies can be developed. Oscilla Power, Inc. has developed a technology for the low cost, utility scale harvesting of wave energy enabled by novel magnetic materials that has no moving parts. Following successful laboratory and initial wave tank testing, further design for reliability activities need to be carried out in advance of a preliminary ocean demonstration. Together with collaborators at the University of New Hampshire, we will conduct engineering, modeling and prototype testing activities to ensure the reliability of both the core power generation module as well as the mooring lines. Phase II activities will be focused on the design, construction, deployment and testing of two subsequent versions of the wave energy system using full scale power generation modules.Commercial Applications and Other

Benefits:
Development and commercialization of the technology has the potential to significantly impact the renewable energy landscape by dramatically reducing the cost, improving the robustness and broadening the availability of wave energy

Phase II

Contract Number: ----------
Start Date: ----    Completed: ----
Phase II year
2012
Phase II Amount
$1,000,000
Ocean wave energy has the potential to support 8% of domestic and global electricity demand. Despite considerable investment over the past decade, however, wave energy is unlikely to make a material contribution to domestic or global energy supplies unless new technologies with significantly lower capital costs and higher reliability than todays leading technologies can be developed and commercialized. Through this project, a novel wave energy harvesting technology that is enabled by low-cost magnetostrictive materials and requires no moving parts to generate electricity will undergo its first open- ocean demonstration. This technology has strong potential to deliver electricity at costs competitive with conventional power sources. In Phase I, design features that enable the technologys power generation modules to survive extreme waves were developed and tested. Prototype power generation modules were built and tested to show that they could withstand expected fatigue loads and hydrostatic pressure. Finally, detailed hydrodynamic modeling of the system was used to determine a system configuration for deployment in Phase II. In Phase II, a sub-scale wave energy harvester with 1:2 scale power generation modules will be designed, built and demonstrated at an open ocean test site. In addition, key components of the system will be demonstrated in the lab at the full scale. Successful execution of Phase II will sufficiently de-risk the technology such that the resources and partnerships can be secured for deployment and demonstration of a sub-scale system with full scale power generation modules, the final step before we build our first commercial-scale system. Commercial Applications and Other

Benefits:
Development and commercialization of the technology has the potential to significantly impact the renewable energy landscape by dramatically reducing the cost, improving the robustness and broadening the availability of wave energy. Successful development and commercialization of the technology will improve the nations competitiveness while reducing global emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants.