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.
To facilitate multidisciplinary connections between teams, competitors are encouraged to leverage the teaming platform. Use of this platform will also contribute to a team's final leaderboard score.
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 I. 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 6 points per scoring criteria, for a maximum of 18 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.
As a reminder, there is an upcoming webinar on Wednesday, June 14. Teams are encouraged to participate to learn more about the teaming platforms that are available to support the development of multidisciplinary teams, identify potential partners, and begin collaborating in an open setting: Register herefor the 6/14/23 - 11:00am MT/12:00pmET Teaming Webinar.*
*Teams signed up for the leaderboard will earn points for their participation in these live webinars. Those who have not yet completed the initial eligibility confirmation on HeroX will not earn points though, so beforehand, make sure to click the “Solve This Challenge” button on the InDEEP homepage and select “My Entries” to access the leaderboard eligibility form. Reach out to us with any questions you have beforehand on the Forum!
As a reminder, there is an upcoming webinar on Wednesday and teams are encouraged to participate in to gather background on innovation methods:
5/10/23 - 9:00am MT/11:00amET - This one hour webinar will cover innovation methods.* Register here.
*Teams signed up for the leaderboard will earn points for their participation in these live webinars. Those who have not yet completed the initial eligibility confirmation on HeroX will not earn points though, so beforehand, make sure to click the “Solve This Challenge” button on the InDEEP homepage and select “My Entries” to access the leaderboard eligibility form. Reach out to us with any questions you have beforehand on the Forum!
Additionally, for those of you that have started participating, the Leaderboard is now live under the Leaderboard tab!
Rankings as of 5/10/23:
CannGraphene, LLC
Wave Grid
SOAR
AMSL
Ron Pelrine's Team
Camswails6
And finally, as a part of this prize, the team is collecting feedback from competitors on the use of the Technology Performance Level (TPL) Assessment Tool. The feedback form is now available under the resources tab. Please share with us any thoughts you have on your experience using the tool as soon as you get to that step in your concept development process.
As a reminder, there are two upcoming webinars teams are encouraged to participate in to gather background on distributed embedded energy conversion and innovation methods:
5/3/23 - 9:00am MT/11:00amET - This one hour webinar will cover DEEC-Tec.* Register here.
5/10/23 - 9:00am MT/11:00amET - This one hour webinar will cover innovation methods.* Register here.
Teams signed up for the leaderboard will earn points for their participation in these live webinars. Those who have not yet completed the initial eligibility confirmation on HeroX will not earn points though, so beforehand, make sure to click the “Solve This Challenge” button on the InDEEP homepage and select “My Entries” to access the leaderboard eligibility form. Reach out to us with any questions you have beforehand on the Forum!
Please be advised that the official Innovating Distributed Embedded Energy Prize Rules Document has been modified to include quantitative clarification on leaderboard scoring and eligibility.