Finalists and alternative teams competing for the Wave Energy Prize have been showcased during the Waterpower Week 2016 that took place last month in Washington DC.
The week’s events kicked off during the National Hydropower Association Annual Conference’s opening plenary session on Monday, April 25 when José Zayas, Director of the US Department of Energy’s Wind and Water Power Technologies Office, highlighted the work of the teams to the more than 700 conference attendees.
The teams had their 1:50 scale WEC models on display during April 25-26, and have also attended a Wave Energy Prize Team Summit, as part of Waterpower Week, where they were able to meet each other and share ideas, and learn about the requirements of upcoming Technology Gates 3 and 4.
The teams then traveled to the MASK Basin at Carderock, Maryland, on April 27 to better understand the logistical and technical requirements related to 1:20 scale testing, and to tour the world-class facility where they will test their prototype devices beginning in August.
The Wave Energy Prize team has informed it’s well on its way to being fully prepared to welcome the first finalist team arriving at Carderock for testing.
Data analysts are working with each finalist and alternate team to develop comprehensive test and evaluation plans tailored for each team’s device, which include how the devices will be rigged, derigged, moored, tested, and evaluated.
Also, Wave Energy Prize Team said it successfully ran all of the 1:20 scale waves in the MASK Basin, the waves that the finalists’ devices will be exposed to during testing this summer.