Powering the Blue Economy Partnership

CSI & Jennette’s Pier Partner with NREL and DOE on Waves to Water Renewable Energy Competition

Water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink. Such is the familiar refrain uttered by poet Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner, whose thirst cannot be quenched by the expanse of salty seawater upon which he’s adrift. But what if there was a drop to drink or significantly more than a drop? Could the ocean, an unlimited, reliable source, help meet a global need for safe, secure, and affordable drinking water? Better yet, could this need be met in a cost-effective manner?

Desalination is the process of removing salt from water. Desalination plants operate in over 100 countries around the world. However, desalination requires costly infrastructure and an abundance of electricity-intensive energy. This issue raises the question: Is there a way to bypass the electricity component?

The solution may well lie in the ocean itself, through the harnessing of free, renewable energy generated by ocean waves. Could the notion of utilizing wave energy to transform saltwater into drinking water become a reality?

The Waves to Water project is counting on it. Launched by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Water Power Technologies Office in June 2019, the Waves to Water project draws upon innovators to accelerate early-stage technologies through a series of contests to demonstrate small, modular, cost-competitive desalination systems that use the power of ocean waves to help provide drinking water to remote coastal and island communities. “We hope to demonstrate how marine energy can deliver a clean water solution that benefits communities around the globe.”

And with the announcement of $3.3 million total in prize money, the wheels of innovative thought commenced turning.

Initially, the competition was composed of four stages:

CONCEPT – Describe how the proposed solution meets the goals of the program. Provide details of the functionality of the wave energy generation technology, desalination technology, and proposed integration methods. The winners of this stage were announced on November 14, 2019. Each received a $10,000 prize.

DESIGN – Submit a plan and provide detailed modeling of the system.

CREATE – Build a functional prototype or proof-of-concept of the system and develop a plan to build and deliver the technology for the DRINK Stage.

DRINK – Winners of the CREATE Stage will build and ship their systems to a designated test site to conduct testing for up to five days. Competitors will compete on efficiency, logistics, and system integration metrics.

On June 8, 2020, the Department of Energy announced that Jennette’s Pier, in partnership with Coastal Studies Institute (CSI,) has been selected as the test site of the Waves to Water Competition Finale! The pier, located in Nags Head, NC Outer Banks, will be the staging ground for the final DRINK stage of the competition scheduled to take place spring of 2022.

CSI operates a renewable energy testing site in partnership with Jennette’s Pier. The research experience, technical expertise and infrastructure available for deployment and testing make CSI and Jennette’s Pier an optimal location and partnership for the DRINK stage of the Waves to Water competition and will provide CSI exposure on a national level.

Reacting to the news, Dr. Lindsay Dubbs, Associate Director of the NC Renewable Ocean Energy Program at CSI, said, “We are excited by this opportunity for CSI and the NCROEP to play a role in advancing marine hydrokinetic energy solutions for disaster relief. CSI’s involvement in the Waves to Water Prize is an outcome of our long-standing observing and research collaboration with Jennette’s Pier, and we hope it will lead to many new collaborations that pursue innovative solutions to challenges faced by coastal communities. “

Hosting the finale, Jennette’s Pier will welcome the competitors to contend for the grand prize during a five-day, open-water test. CSI will be directly involved leading up to, and during, the competition, offering a variety of exciting outreach events involving K-12 students and the general public. In addition, CSI and ECU will provide vessel support and divers.

Dr. Michael Muglia, Assistant Director, NCROEP, expressed his enthusiasm. “This is a fantastic opportunity for CSI’s Renewable Ocean Energy Program and Jennette’s to demonstrate our depth of expertise, knowledge, and capabilities to test renewable ocean energy devices right here on the Outer Banks. We’re excited to work with all of the talented competitors to showcase wave powered desalination technologies with our colleagues from the National Renewable Energy Labs and Department of Energy’s Waterpower Technologies Office.”

And echoing Dr. Muglia’s sentiments, Mr. George Bonner, Director of the NCROEP, states, “CSI brings together multidisciplinary researchers to solve our most urgent coastal challenges, including renewable energy development. We are proud to partner with the U.S. Department of Energy to host tomorrow’s desalination trailblazers here in the Outer Banks.”

DOE also announced the winners for the DESIGN stage. Each advancing team received a cash prize after demonstrating their systems’ technical capability and plans to build a functional proof-of-concept desalination system.

CSI and Jennette’s Pier will host the final testing phase of the Waves to Water prize, a four-stage competition designed to demonstrate small, modular, cost-competitive desalination systems that use the power of ocean waves to provide clean drinking water for disaster recovery and remote coastal communities.