The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO) is launching the Innovating Distributed Embedded Energy Prize (InDEEP) to encourage innovation in distributed embedded energy converter technology (DEEC-Tec, pronounced “deck tech”) to generate new, precommercial materials for wave energy conversion. This prize will challenge innovators from within and beyond wave energy to design and develop novel materials for marine energy applications that will lay the foundation for generating electricity at the grid scale.
This three-phase, two-year competition is offering a combined cash prize pool up to $2.3 million. Teams will also receive technical support, teaming support, and other forms of mentorship throughout the prize to enable their success.
To help build energy resilience in coastal cities and support President Biden’s goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, InDEEP seeks innovations that blend materials and renewable energy research to help convert wave energy to usable electricity. This prize is the first step in exploring DEEC-Tec’s potential for ocean wave energy conversion.
Competitors will use innovative methods to identify DEEC-Tec components and materials that have high techno-economic potential for wave energy converters. Successful concepts developed through this prize are those that show the greatest techno-economic potential to contribute to grid-scale power systems.
Prize Phases
Prize Goals
Leverage WEC innovation methods to systematically develop DEEC-Tec concepts that could bring value to the ocean wave energy conversion industry.
Build a solver community by engaging and facilitating collaboration between diverse innovators inside and outside the marine energy industry and related DEEC-Tec disciplines.
Encourage development of novel DEEC-Tec concepts with high potential relevant to ocean wave energy conversion by supporting an interdisciplinary set of competitors as they move from ideation to design.
Refine wave energy converter innovation methods to incorporate ideas from beyond the field of wave energy based on feedback from the prize.
Guidelines
Who can participate?
This prize aims to engage distributed embedded energy conversion experts from a wide variety of fields and disciplines, like piezoelectrics, polymers, and actuators. Innovators within and beyond the wave energy industry are encouraged to create and join multidisciplinary teams in designing and completing proof-of-concept testing of DEEC-Tec concept(s) that are applicable to ocean wave energy conversion.
To ensure success regardless of knowledge or background in marine energy, competitors will receive multiple types of support throughout the prize, including training in innovation methods, connections with commercialization mentors, and an introduction to marine renewable energy.
Please see the official prize rules for participant eligibility and resource materials.
Leaderboard
The leaderboard is a representation of engagement throughout Phase II. The final scores represented on the public-facing leaderboard will contribute directly to the final numerical score a competitor receives on their submission. Individual scoring components are included in the official prize rules, and teams can receive up to 5 points per scoring criteria, for a maximum of 15 additional points, that will be calculated and weighted into final scores for their appropriate category.
Specific engagement activities will be offered and updates will be shared on the leaderboard as teams complete these activities. Teams will not earn points for leaderboard activities prior to completing the initial eligibility confirmation on HeroX. It is the responsibility of the team to notify the prize administrator to transition points to another team, should teams pursue partnerships and a change in the team captain whose name is associated with these engagement changes.
During Phase III, the InDEEP finalists have been hard at work developing their DEEC-Tec concepts in advance of the final event in March. Today, we’re spotlighting finalist Artimus Robotics.
InDEEP finalist Artimus Robotics is enabling new capabilities in bio-inspired robotics and distributed energy harvesting systems to pioneer the untapped potential of the deep sea.
Their team has developed a new type of soft transducer, called a hydraulically amplified soft electrostatic (HASEL) transducer, that acts as an actuator, sensor, and generator all in one device. The dual-use HASEL-based metamaterials help advance the blue economy by unlocking sustainable ocean wave energy and powering unmanned underwater vehicles.
Artimus Robotics will join the other InDEEP finalists at the final event in March to present their technology and compete for the grand prize!
Congratulations again to the 15 teams named winners of Phase II! Check out the announcement from DOE to learn more about the winning teams.
We’d also like to thank all the competitors who participated in Phase II. We hope we’ll see you compete in future prizes from the American-Made program! Make sure to subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date on future opportunities.
For the teams advancing to Phase III, we are hosting a one-hour kickoff webinar on August 15. During the call, prize administrators will share details about the final phase of the prize, how to submit a successful submission package, and additional technical assistance opportunities that will be available to competitors. Register for the kickoff webinar.
Pittsburgh Coastal Energy from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
PSU_EnergyHarvesting from State College, Pennsylvania
Soft Energy from Ithaca, New York
Streaming Energy from La Jolla, California
WaterBros Development from Charlotte, North Carolina
Wave Grid from Galveston, Texas
WaveHarvest from Dallas, Texas
Congratulations to the teams! You can read the full winner's announcement here. We appreciate the engagement and effort of all the teams who competed in Phase II. We hope you will continue to advance your technologies and stay engaged with this InDEEP community.
Head on over to the leaderboard tab for final Phase II engagement scores! As a reminder these scores are not a reflection of Team rankings within the prize overall, but are the results for official prize engagement activities listed in the rules document for Phase II.
Don't forget to submit your Phase II submissions before the 5pm ET deadline on Tuesday, May 7th!
Lastly, as a reminder Phase II includes a live virtual demonstration (with eligible submissions). Please use this form to let us know your availability for that demonstration.
Join us tomorrow 2/29 at 2pm ET for the Virtual DEEC Demonstration Prep Webinar
At the end of Phase II, competitors will be required to attend a virtual meeting with the Prize Administrator demonstrating the testing process and validating the test results in the Test Report and Technical Narrative. Tune into this demonstration webinar, where the prize administrators will roll-play what to expect during a Live Virtual DEEC Demonstration!
Go to our resources page to find the official rules document along with helpful training materials in Appendix C. We also have links to templates and past webinar recordings and slides to refer to. If you have any questions, make sure to post them on the InDEEP forum so other competitors can benefit from the information!
