U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Water Power

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U.S. Department of EnergyAdvanced Water Power
Ocean Research Resources Advisory Panel 14
August 2009
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DOE Water Power Activities (Restarted in FY 2008)
FY07 FY08 FY09 FY10 (request)
0 10 40 30

• Appropriations address both conventional hydro
  (CH) and marine and hydrokinetic technologies
  (MHK)
• Technology Definitions
• Marine and hydrokinetic (MHK) energy from
• Waves
• Water currents (tides, rivers, ocean currents,
  man-made channels)
• Ocean thermal energy (OTEC)
• Conventional hydropower (CH) energy from any
  source that uses a dam, diversionary structure,
  or impoundment for electric power purposes.
• purposes.

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DOE Water Power Mission

• Identify and undertake RDDD activities necessary
  to
• Assess the potential extractable energy from
  water resources
• Facilitate the development and deployment of
  renewable, environmentally-sound, and
  cost-effective energy from domestic rivers,
  estuaries and coastal waters
• EERE focuses on applied research, development,
  and deployment
• Most fundamental RD undertaken by DOE Office of
  Science
• Policy role limited to advice and recommendations
  

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Resources

• At least 50 GW estimated extractable resource in
  US
• Greatest resource from waves and rivers
• Existing assessments preliminary and conservative
• Refined resource assessments necessary to
  decrease uncertainty and prioritize development
• Reduced transmission costs due to proximity to
  load
• Wave and tidal, ocean, and river currents are
  highly predictable and can be easily forecasted
• Offshore sites are low profile low visibility
• Data gaps
• Need for interim, defensible assessments
• Timeline for development?

2007 Water and Historical Wind COE (/kWh)
Resource Raw (GW) Extractable (GW)
Wave 240 30
Tidal Current 13 2
Ocean Current Unknown 6
River 1426 13
Total 1679 51
Source EPRI 2009, NYU 1986
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Barriers

• Technologies in very early stage of development,
  few full-scale demonstrations
• Lack of cost and performance data
• Lack of standards for development, testing, and
  evaluation
• Prototype deployment is costly and time-consuming
• High capital costs and technology risk
• Unique survivability/reliability challenges
• OM is difficult and costly in rough marine
  environments must be minimized
• Minimizing OM in rough marine environments
  requires extremely robust designs
• Lack of information on device/resource
  interaction
• Few technology-specific models and tools
• Lack of detailed resource quantification and
  characterization
• Existing data is preliminary and uncertain
  extractable power still to be derived from total
  power figures
• Uncertain environmental, navigational, and
  competing use impacts, complex regulatory
  framework
• Siting and regulatory delays may stop industry
  before it starts

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Program PrioritiesMarine and Hydrokinetics

• System Deployment and Testing
• Facilitate the deployment and testing of full
  scale MHK prototypes and components
• Support the development of integrated test
  centers
• Generate data on performance, reliability and
  impacts
• Cost Reduction and System Performance/Reliability
  
• Support design and development of scale systems
  and components in order to reduce technology
  costs and improve performance and reliability
• Develop design and testing protocol, support
  developers who follow it
• Develop numerical and physical tools to assist
  industry in device and system design and
  operation.
• Understand Environmental Effects
• Collect/disseminate data on environmental impacts
  to reduce deployment costs and environmental
  effect
• Resource Modeling
• Determine the available, extractable, and
  cost-effective water resources in the US
• Develop Evaluation and Performance Standards
• Characterize, evaluate and compare the wide
  variety of MHK technologies continue IEC/IEA
  standards development

7
Policy Needs

• Substantial deployment incentives
• Technology development stage similar to wind in
  mid 1980s
• Nascent technology needs both RD support and
  market-pull policies
• E.g. deployment fund to establish
  technology-specific rate warranties
• Definition of maximum amount of electricity per
  individual technology (i.e. 5MW_at_30)
• Definition of support per kWh delivered
  (0.5/kWh)
• Guaranteed PPAs Loan guarantees
• Streamlined Licensing Process
• Overlapping jurisdiction between Federal and
  state agencies
• Regulators employ license processes designed for
  oil gas or conventional hydropower
• Can take 5 years to secure license for small
  projects
• License process must consider scalability of
  technologies and leave room for adaptive
  management

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MHK Key Activities

• MHK Technology Development
• Principal activities include
• Competitive awards to industry to design,
  develop, and test energy conversion devices and
  projects (ongoing projects awarded in 08,
  additional projects solicited in 09)
• Solicitations to national labs for computational
  tools to improve system design and array
  configuration
• Development of international device performance
  and identification standards.
• MHK Technology and Project Database
• National Marine Renewable Energy Centers
• MHK Market Acceleration/Analysis
• Principal activities include
• Ongoing projects to assess wave and tidal
  resources, solicited projects to assess
  in-stream, ocean current, OTEC
• Cost assessments of all MHK technologies and OTEC
• Report to Congress identifying potential
  environmental effects of MHK technologies
• Industry solicitation to support project-specific
  environmental studies
• Marine and Hydrokinetic Industry Roadmap
• Development of project siting guidelines and
  framework

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Water power questions?
Alejandro Moreno Technology Lead, Water Power
Wind and Hydropower Technologies U.S. Department
of Energy 202-586-8171 alejandro.moreno_at_ee.doe.gov
Megan McCluer Program Manager Wind and
Hydropower Technologies U.S. Department of Energy
202-586-7736 megan.mccluer_at_ee.doe.gov