US DoE grants funding for CalWave project

US Department of Energy (DoE) has selected California Polytechnic University (Cal Poly) to receive $1.5 million in additional funding for the California Wave Energy Test Center (CalWave) project.

According to Stonehenge Metals, part of the Cal Poly team, the $1.5 million funding award is targeted at supporting the next phase of the CalWave initiative which will include detailed engineering, permitting and stakeholder process delineation for the CalWave project.

Bruce Lane, Stonehenge Managing Director, said: “We are excited that DOE has now selected Cal Poly for an additional US$1.5 million funding award for the CalWave project. Once final award negotiations are complete, the continuation of the project provides us the opportunity to work alongside some of California’s leading institutions and opens up opportunities for Protean.”

Sam Blakeslee, CalWave Principal Investigator, said: “Our findings and knowledge already created within the CalWave project, especially in terms of California environmental permitting and marine/port engineering, will prove to be both relevant and useful in this undertaking.”

Other members of the CalWave team include Pacific Gas and Electric Co., California’s power utility, Vandenberg Air Force Base, purchaser of wave test-centre generated power and host of its shorebased operations, and the California Natural Resources Agency, a cabinet-level policy and regulatory body of the State of California.

The CalWave project was originally created partly in response to the US DoE’s indication of its intention to accelerate the development of wave-energy technologies in the United States and to construct a world-class National Wave Energy Testing Facility where technology manufacturers can pilot their devices in a true commercial, grid connected marine setting.

In June 2014, Cal Poly received a $750,000 grant from DOE to assess the feasibility of siting the planned National Wave Energy Test Facility off Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

Stonehenge is an Australian mining company that has entered into an option agreement to purchase the Protean wave energy technology.

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Image: Protean Wave Energy/Protean WEC/Illustration