Waves to Water Prize

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) officially opened the first stage of the Waves to Water Prize, which seeks to accelerate the development of wave energy powered desalination systems and launch novel technologies to address critical water security challenges. The prize is divided into four stages, and the first concept stage is now open for applications through September 11, 2019.  

“The start of the Waves to Water Prize marks an important step toward driving growth and progress in the marine energy sector as well as spurring innovation to develop desalinization technologies that will have a global impact,” said U.S. Under Secretary of Energy Mark W. Menezes. “Supplying potable drinking water is a significant challenge in many parts of the world, and we have the opportunity to use the power of competition to find lasting solutions through the development of these two industries.”

The Waves to Water prize will offer competitors up to $2.5 million in prizes for winners to advance their solutions from concept, to technical design, to the building of a prototype, and culminate in an open water testing competition, where the systems will produce clean water using only waves as power sources. The initial concept stage has $200,000 in prizes, with up to $10,000 in funding for up to 20 winners. DOE is seeking interdisciplinary solutions that are modular and easily transportable, and ultimately can serve the clean water needs of remote communities or aid in disaster relief scenarios. More information on specific guidelines for submissions and rules of the competition can be found here.

The prize is the first to be launched by DOE under the White House-initiated Water Security Grand Challenge – a DOE-led framework to advance transformational technology and innovation to meet the global need for safe, secure, and affordable water.

The Waves to Water Prize is led by the EERE Water Power Technologies Office and administered by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory on the American Made Challenges platform. This prize builds on the success of DOE’s Wave Energy Prize, which catalyzed the development of technologies that doubled the energy captured from ocean waves.

The Water Security Grand Challenge is a White House initiated, U.S. Department of Energy led framework to advance transformational technology and innovation to meet the global need for safe, secure, and affordable water. Using a coordinated suite of prizes, competitions, early-stage research and development, and other programs, the Grand Challenge has set the following goals for the United States to reach by 2030:

Goal 1: Launch desalinaton technologies that deliver cost-competitive clean water

BACKGROUND – Over the next 10 years, 40 states expect water shortages in some areas. Cost-competitive desalination technologies can address water security and alleviate water stress by expanding alternative water resources, such as seawater, estuaries, brackish groundwater, and other sources.

CHALLENGE – Current technologies are energy intensive, with energy costs up to 10 times that of treating freshwater. Environmental issues, such as brine disposal, also pose a challenge.

OBJECTIVE – The Water Security Grand Challenge aims to address these barriers by accelerating research, development and deployment to decrease the cost of processed water, increase water supply resilience, and increase the access to low-cost water.  

Current and Recent Opportunities:

• Waves to Water Prize
• Energy-Water Desalination Hub (CLOSED)
• Office of Nuclear Energy Consolidated Innovative Nuclear Research Funding Opportunity Announcement (CLOSED)

US Department of Energy

Goal 2: Transform the energy sector’s produced water from a waste to a resource

BACKGROUND – Produced water is a byproduct of oil and natural gas extraction, uranium mining, and carbon capture, utilization, and storage. In 2012, an estimated 21.2 billion barrels of produced water from oil and gas were generated in the United States.

CHALLENGE – The high cost of removing constituents specific to produced water can make it cheaper to dispose produced water than treat it. Even so, current disposal practices in oil and gas cost about $40 billion annually.

OBJECTIVE – The Water Security Grand Challenge aims to accelerate research, development and deployment of cost-effective treatment of produced water that can address water scarcity in water-stressed regions by creating alternative water sources for agricultural use, mineral extraction and processing, and other industrial operations, while creating new revenue for the extraction industry through water sales. 

Current and Recent Opportunities:

• Chevron Tech Challenge for Produced Water
• Office of Fossil Energy Low Cost, Efficient Treatment Technologies for Produced Water

Goal 3: Achieve near-zero water impact for new thermoelectric power plants, and significantly lower freshwater use intensity within the existing fleet

BACKGROUND – Thermoelectric power plants utilize large volumes of freshwater for cooling operations. This water use accounts for about 40% of water withdrawals in the United States. Effluent water from thermoelectric power plants that is returned to its source can affect aquatic ecosystems if altering natural water temperatures and flows. Water that evaporates and is not returned to its source is considered consumed; this accounts for about 3% of U.S. water consumption.

CHALLENGE – The thermoelectric power sector’s reliance on water poses a risk in light of anticipated warming ambient temperatures, increased water stress, and more frequent extreme events like droughts. If improperly managed, the water demand of the thermoelectric power sector may limit water available to other uses, limiting economic growth of surrounding communities.

OBJECTIVE – The Water Security Grand Challenge aims to accelerate research, development and deployment of new technologies that lead to near-zero water impacts for newly built thermoelectric power plants along with significantly lower freshwater use intensity for existing thermoelectric power plants. 

Current and Recent Opportunities:

• University Training and Research for Fossil Energy / Area of Interest 4: Coal Plant Water Reuse(CLOSED)
• Crosscutting Research for Coal-Fueled Power Plants / Area of Interest 2: Coal Power Plan Cooling Technology (CLOSED)

Goal 4: Double resource recovery from municipal wastewater

BACKGROUND – Wastewater treatment plants purchase about $2 billion of electricity each year and face more than $200 billion in future capital investment needs to meet water quality objectives. This can constrain municipal budgets. For example, energy consumption at wastewater treatment plants can account for a third or more of municipal energy bills. Wastewater treatment plants can address these challenges by recovering critical resources and turning them into marketable products. This can create new revenue streams for upgrading water treatment infrastructure, particularly in rural communities, prevent nutrient pollution, and provide new sources of alternative water supplies. Recovered resources include energy that can be used on-site or sold, nutrients, such as phosphorous and nitrogen that can be used as fertilizer, and clean water that can be reused for agricultural, industrial, and potable purposes.

CHALLENGE – Energy costs are expected to increase over time and affect affordability of water for businesses and consumers. Disposal of residual biosolids from water treatment is another significant cost for municipalities.

OBJECTIVE – The Water Security Grand Challenge aims to pursue research, development, deployment and other opportunities to increase resource recovery. 

Current and Recent Opportunities:

• U.S. Department of Energy, Better Buildings Initiative, Sustainable Wastewater Infrastructure of the Future  
• U.S. Department of Energy, Better Buildings Initiative, Better Plants
• Fiscal Year 2019 Bioenergy Technologies Office Multi-Topic Funding Opportunity Announcement
• Fiscal Year 2019 Commercial Trucks and Off-road Applications Funding Opportunity Announcement: Natural Gas, Hydrogen, Biopower, and Electrification Technologies (CLOSED)

Goal 5: Develop small, modular energy-water systems for urban, rural, tribal, national security, and disaster response settings

BACKGROUND – Small, modular energy and water systems have the potential to cost-effectively serve areas where energy and clean water are expensive and challenging to produce. Small, decentralized energy-water systems can also play an important role in serving the more than one billion people worldwide that currently lack access to reliable sources of electricity and water.

CHALLENGE – The ability to cost-effectively produce clean water for urban settings where population growth is occurring but central energy or water systems are nearing maximum capacity; for rural communities, including tribal regions where population levels cannot accommodate the economies of scale needed to make large systems viable; for military sites in remote areas without access to central electricity and water systems; and in areas impacted by disaster when storms and other events have knocked existing energy and water systems offline.

OBJECTIVE – The Water Security Grand Challenge aims to spur innovation needed to improve the cost-effectiveness of small, modular linked energy-water systems and test their performance for a range of applications.

Current and Recent Opportunities:

• Waves to Water Prize

Clean energy for all

Clean energy for all Europeans package completed: good for consumers, good for growth and jobs, and good for the planet

The Council of ministers of the EU formally adopted four new pieces of EU legislation that redesign the EU electricity market to make it fit for the future. This concludes the remaining elements of the Clean energy for all Europeans package and represents a major step towards completing the Energy Union, delivering on the priorities of the Juncker Commission.

The gradual transition towards clean energy and a carbon-neutral economy is one of the greatest challenges of our time. The EU, in 2016, decided to tackle it by rewriting the EU’s energy policy framework to facilitate this clean and fair energy transition. By providing a modern, stable legal environment and setting a clear and common sense of direction, the EU can stimulate the necessary public and private investment and bring European added value by addressing these challenges together. As a package, the new rules will reinforce consumer rights, putting them at the heart of the energy transition; they will create growth and green jobs in a modern economy leaving no region and no citizen behind. They will enable the EU to show leadership in the fight against climate change following the Paris Agreement.

Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy Miguel Arias Cañete said:

This is the most ambitious set of energy proposals ever presented by the European Commission. It has been adopted in record time with impressive support from the European Parliament and Council. With its completion, we have made the EU's Energy Union - one of the ten political priorities of the Juncker Commission – a reality. I truly believe it will accelerate the clean energy transition and give all Europeans access to secure, competitive and sustainable energy.

The Clean energy for all Europeans package sets the right balance between making decisions at EU, national, and local level. Member States will continue to choose their own energy mix, but must meet new commitments to improve energy efficiency and the take-up of renewables in that mix by 2030. For example, the new rules on the electricity market, which have been adopted today, will make it easier for renewable energy to be integrated into the grid, encourage more inter-connections and cross-border trade, and ensure that the market provides reliable signals for future investment. Today’s rules also require Member State to draft plans to prevent, prepare for and manage possible crisis situations in the supply of electricity in coordination with neighbouring Member States, and to enhance the role of the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER).

Background

The EU was an early mover on clean energy: it was the first major power in the world to set, in 2009, ambitious energy and climate targets for 2020 (20% greenhouse gas emission reduction, 20% in renewable energy and 20% energy efficiency). Ten years later, the EU is broadly on track to achieve theses 2020 objectives, proving it is possible to reduce emissions and achieve GDP growth at the same time. In the meantime, renewable energy has become much cheaper. Moreover, with the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, the EU pledged to move further ahead and achieve greenhouse gas emission reductions of at least 40% by 2030. In order to respond to this challenge and continue to lead the global energy transition, the Commission proposed in 2016 a set of ambitious new rules called the “Clean Energy Package for all Europeans”. With this package the Commission addressed all 5 dimensions of the Energy Union (1) energy security; 2) the internal energy market; 3) energy efficiency; 4) decarbonisation of the economy; and 5) research, innovation and competitiveness.). It is composed primarily of the following elements:

1. Energy efficiency first: the revamped directive on energy efficiency sets a new, higher target of energy use for 2030 of 32.5%, and the new Energy performance of buildings directive maximizes the energy saving potential of smarter and greener buildings.
2. More renewables: an ambitious new target of at least 32% in renewable energy by 2030 has been fixed, with specific provisions to foster public and private investment, in order for the EU to maintain its global leadership on renewables.
3. A better governance of the Energy Union: A new energy rulebook under which each Member State drafts National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs) for 2021-2030 setting out how to achieve their energy union targets, and in particular the 2030 targets on energy efficiency and renewable energy. These draft NECPs are currently being analysed by the Commission, with country-specific recommendations to be issued before the end of June.
4. More rights for consumers: the new rules make it easier for individuals to produce, store or sell their own energy, and strengthen consumer rights with more transparency on bills, and greater choice flexibility.
5. A smarter and more efficient electricity market: the new laws will increase security of supply by helping integrate renewables into the grid and manage risks, and by improving cross-border cooperation.

In addition to the legislative acts of the package, the Commission also proposed a number of non-legislative initiatives, in particular to ensure a fair and just transition where nobody and no region is left behind:

• The Coal regions in transition initiative;
• The Clean energy for EU islands initiative;
• Measures to define and better monitor energy poverty in Europe.

Related links:

• Clean energy for all Europeans
• Publication: Clean energy for all Europeans (May 2019)