DOE Releases First Significant Funding Opportunity Investing in Blue Economy Market

In Fiscal Year 2022, WPTO released a funding opportunity representing the first significant funding the U.S. Department of Energy is investing in a blue economy market.

Water Power Technologies Office

March 1, 2023
Marine Energy icon graphic - a lighthouse with a wave below
Link URL
/eere/water/marine-energy-program

Marine Energy Program

Project Name: Marine Energy Systems Innovation at Sea Funding Opportunity

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This article is part of the

WPTO 2021–2022 ACCOMPLISHMENTS REPORT

In This Report

Hydropower Projects

Marine Energy Projects

In September 2022, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO) issued a $10.3 million funding opportunity to accelerate the development and testing of marine energy technologies with a focus on wave and ocean current resources. This represented the first significant funding opportunity announcement by the U.S. Department of Energy focused on a blue economy market and was designed to encourage faster and smaller-scale designing, building, and testing of marine energy technologies.

The funding opportunity supported wave-powered systems innovation for seawater desalination, research and development for blue economy markets, and a feasibility assessment for an ocean current test facility. This opportunity built on the success of WPTO’s Waves to Water Prize, which helped accelerate the development of small, modular, wave-powered desalination systems capable of providing clean water in disaster and recovery scenarios, as well as in water-scarce coastal and island locations.

Marine Energy Projects