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Removing the Element of Surprise: Ocean Observing Prize Solicits Designs for Tomorrow’s Storm Tracking Technology

BOCA RATON, FL – Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and NOAA announced the opening of the DEVELOP Competition within the Ocean Observing Prize—a multi-stage prize that challenges innovators to integrate marine renewable energy with ocean observation platforms. The DEVELOP Competition challenges problem solvers to develop technologies to help us better map, monitor, and understand the ocean, improving our ability to forecast hurricanes and providing an invaluable service to coastal communities.

Offering $2.4 million in cash prizes, access to testing in tanks and at sea, and in-kind support, the DEVELOP Competition comprises three contests—Design, Build, and Splash. Now open, the Design Contest will remain open for 120 days, closing February 16, 2021.  

"The U.S. Department of Energy plays an important role in planning for and responding to natural disasters like hurricanes—this includes catalyzing the research and development of technologies to power the ocean observing platforms critical to hurricane monitoring," said Deputy Secretary of Energy Mark W. Menezes. "Building on its DISCOVER Competition, we are excited to work alongside our partners at NOAA to launch the Ocean Observing Prize DEVELOP Competition, which challenges competitors to build and test technologies powered by marine energy that ultimately can help increase our nation’s abilities to predict future hurricanes."

The challenge at hand is to integrate wave energy harvesting with autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), creating a self-charging ocean observing platform for hurricane monitoring that can remain deployed at sea for months at a time. The different contests within the DEVELOP Competition will provide competitors a chance to design prototypes, build and test them in a controlled environment, and eventually test them at sea.

"This partnership with the Department of Energy tapped into a community of innovators who are bringing truly creative solutions to renewable energy for marine applications," said retired Navy Rear Adm. Tim Gallaudet, Ph.D., assistant secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and deputy NOAA administrator. "Harnessing wave energy for autonomous underwater vehicles shows great promise for supporting hurricane forecasting and also poses potential benefits for the application of unoccupied systems research and exploration more broadly, which connects to the heart of many of NOAA's critical mission areas."

Throughout the DEVELOP Competition, the prize team will also provide support to the competitors through a variety of avenues, including, but not limited to, R&D vouchers, testing and validation, business webinars, and mentoring and coaching.

Hurricane monitoring is just the beginning for the Ocean Observing Prize. Subsequent iterations of the prize will focus on different energy challenges in ocean monitoring, which could include monitoring fish stocks or alerting coastal areas of deadly tsunamis.

The Ocean Observing Prize is administered by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory on behalf DOE’s Water Power Technologies Office and the Integrated Ocean Observing System program at NOAA. Learn more about the DEVELOP Competition, and contact wptoprizes@ee.doe.gov for additional information on partnering.

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