Summary Report: October 5, 2021 Workshop on Materials & Manufacturing for Marine Energy Technologies
To achieve commercial success, marine energy technologies must be more cost-competitive and reliable.
New low-cost, high-quality materials and manufacturing methods are essential to build competitive marine energy technologies. That’s why the U.S. Department of Energy’s Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO) invests in marine materials and manufacturing research and development activities. WPTO works with marine energy stakeholders to identify research gaps, challenges, and investment opportunities in these two areas.
Virtual Materials and Manufacturing Workshop - October 2021
On October 5, 2021, WPTO invited members from academia and industry to attend a materials and manufacturing workshop. Attendees identified research and development gaps and opportunities for new investments. In 2022, WPTO published a report summarizing this discussion.
Summary Report Findings
Nine industry and academic representatives presented marine energy materials research projects. (Each are detailed in the report).
Attendees also participated in three breakout discussions on Wave Energy Converter Needs, Tidal and Current Energy Converter Needs, and Unconventional Wave Energy Converters. Attendees identified several critical short- and long-term investments to solve shared needs, including the following:
- Accelerated prototype manufacture/rapid prototyping to reduce device deployment time, and
- Improved manufacturing supply chain, including factors such as scale, location, and availability of production capacity.
Additional needs are summarized in the table below.
Area | Wave Energy Converter | Current Energy Converter | Unconventional Wave Energy Converter |
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Materials Selection |
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Testing |
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Modeling |
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Manufacturing |
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Other |
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Capturing input from industry and academic partners is essential strategically identify R&D investments in marine energy technologies. WPTO aims to help its partners fill these gaps and remove obstacles that prevent marine energy devices from reaching commercial viability.