Project Grant DESC0022680

This Early-concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER) award from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Integrative Activities (IA) program, CFDA 47.083, provides $149,980 to the University of Maine System to conduct research on the orbital motion dynamics of offshore wind turbines (OWTs) during the installation phase. The interdisciplinary project team will investigate the unique dynamics of partially installed bottom-fixed OWTs using wave tank experiments and high-fidelity numerical...

Marine Advanced Robotics, Inc. was awarded a $300,000 Project Grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration under the NOAA Small Business Innovation Research Program to further develop collaborative algorithms for autonomous swarming of uncrewed surface vehicles (USVs). The company's Wave Adaptive Modular Vessel technology provides a family of portable, foldable and energy-efficient USVs that can rapidly deploy and map predefined survey areas without existing infrastructure....

This National Science Foundation (NSF) Cooperative Agreement award, funded under the NSF Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (CFDA 47.084) program, provides $999,496 to Rcam Technologies Inc. to advance the development of a 3D printed concrete anchor for floating offshore wind turbines. The key objectives are to: 1) Develop optimized anchor designs and mooring line connections manufactured using 3D concrete printing, 2) Fabricate and validate anchor prototypes through structural testing and...

This National Science Foundation Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships program Project Grant of $250,000 supports the development of an efficient anchor system for floating offshore wind turbines. The awardee, Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station doing business as Tees, will focus on commercializing a new anchor design capable of resisting loads from 15 megawatt or larger wind turbines. Key activities include reduced scale model tests to evaluate anchor insertion and pullout, refining...

This National Science Foundation (NSF) Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (CFDA 47.084) Project Grant award to Aikido Technologies Inc. for $275,000 supports the detailed engineering of a 100kW self-upending floating wind platform. The broader impact of this SBIR Phase I project is the development of a next-generation floating wind platform that could dramatically reduce the time, cost, and equipment/vessel requirements of installing commercial-scale floating wind farms. The key...

This National Science Foundation Project Grant of $256,000 awarded on March 15, 2022 will fund Ladon Robotics LLC to develop autonomous, ocean-going cargo vessels powered by wind and solar energy under the NSF Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships program (CFDA 47.084). The small business aims to integrate existing robotic and energy capture technologies with new wind/solar energy optimization software and autonomous contingency management systems. This has the potential to lower operating...

This Project Grant award from the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (CFDA 81.087 - Renewable Energy Research and Development) aims to validate and test composite tidal turbine blades using a new open-source tidal energy converter and blade geometry at the AMEC-UNH tidal energy test site. The $450,000 project will compare the performance of two blade types - one using traditional epoxy materials and one using recyclable bio-based resins - to advance...

Rcam Technologies Inc. received a $256,000 Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation on June 15, 2021 to support preliminary design and manufacturing of mooring line connections for 3D concrete printed floating wind turbine anchors. The award is being carried out under the Engineering (47.041) federal grant program, which aims to foster innovation and excellence in engineering research. The funding will allow Rcam Technologies to...

The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded a $275,000 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project grant to Crabline Robotics LLC, a woman-owned small business, to develop a dexterous, crab-like aquatic robot platform for underwater construction and decommissioning of structures. The project seeks to create a new class of aquatic robotics capable of stabilizing around a target and precisely delivering tools, such as exothermic cutting rods, to underwater structures. This...

The Maritime Administration (MARAD) awarded a $240,000 Cooperative Agreement under the Air Emissions and Energy Initiative (CFDA 20.817) program to Blue Ocean Transfers Group LLC on June 10, 2024. The purpose of this award is to investigate the advancement of decarbonization for offshore wind support vessels. The key deliverables include an environmental and operational assessment, definition of operational profiles, electrification concept design and initial hybrid system configuration, and a...