Notice: As of July 2026, ORNL is unable to fund further projects. However, interested parties are still welcome to submit pre-applications, per the information displayed on this page. This status is subject to change, pending future funding conditions, and we appreciate your interest in the Water Power Technical Collaboration Program.
Water Power Technical Collaboration Program for Advanced Manufacturing and Materials
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and the Hydropower and Hydrokinetic Office (H2O) of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) are seeking participants for short-term collaborative projects to accelerate the development of innovative water power technologies, leveraging advanced manufacturing and materials (AMM). Here, waterpower technologies of interest include those that apply to hydropower plants, pumped storage hydropower, and marine energy. The Water Power Technical Collaboration Program for Advanced Manufacturing and Materials (the program) provides selected participants with access to the DOE’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility (MDF) at ORNL, including its world-leading experts in AMM research and cutting-edge equipment and capabilities to demonstrate the application of AMM to waterpower technologies. The program will allow companies to explore innovative and daring ideas with minimal investment and limited risk.
Access the linked resources below to get started. Scroll down for additional information about the program.
Get Started
Program Background
Motivation for the program stemmed from the ORNL Advanced Manufacturing for Hydropower project, in which a workshop attended by a group of industry leaders, researchers, and academicians was used to provide input on current challenges facing hydropower and how new technology could be best used to address them. ORNL researchers took the feedback from the workshop and used it as the basis for further study. Their work culminated in a report, Advanced Manufacturing and Materials for Hydropower: Challenges and Opportunities, and a guiding strategy document that was released by the H2O in February 2024.
The Program supports WPTO’s mission by enabling research and development of novel AMM technologies for hydropower and marine energy applications. The Program aims to reduce barriers to developing technologies applicable to hydropower and marine energy at low Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs). This complements WPTO’s existing testing networks, HyTN (hydropower) and TEAMER (marine energy), which support technology development through higher TRLs. The Program was launched in April 2024 with focus specifically on hydropower applications and was expanded in July 2025 to include marine energy applications. The expansion of the Program to marine energy applications aimed to fill a marine energy industry need for support with manufacturing devices.
Through the new Water Power Technical Collaboration Program for Advanced Manufacturing and Materials, organizations can boost the performance and cost effectiveness of their technologies that apply to hydropower plants, pumped storage hydropower, and marine energy.
Learn more about this new initiative by watching an informational webinar that took place on September 24, 2025. Click here to see the recording.
More detailed information about the Program can be found in our downloadable tool kit, which comprehensively addresses its specific aims and requirements, and provides answers to frequently asked questions.
Eligibility
Eligible entities are limited to industries or research organizations that currently fabricate prototype equipment, manufacture equipment, process materials, produce manufacturing-related software, and/or integrate energy systems in the U.S. for commercial applications, or to industries that will be able to do so as a direct result of these collaborative efforts.
Eligible projects must exhibit the following features:
- Technology Scope – Has a clear application to water power technologies, which include:
- Hydropower technologies: support the capture of energy from the flow of moving water across a pressure or elevation difference.
- Pumped storage hydropower technologies: support the storage of energy using water at a pressure or elevation difference.
- Marine energy technologies: support the capture of energy from (1) waves, tides, and currents in oceans, estuaries, tidal areas, (2) free flowing water in rivers, lakes, streams, and man-made channels, (3) differentials in salinity and pressure gradients, or (4) differentials in water temperature, including ocean thermal energy conversion
- Cross-cutting technologies: support other fields that can advance hydropower, pumped storage hydropower, and marine energy.
- Hydropower technologies: support the capture of energy from the flow of moving water across a pressure or elevation difference.
- Pumped storage hydropower technologies: support the storage of energy using water at a pressure or elevation difference.
- Marine energy technologies: support the capture of energy from (1) waves, tides, and currents in oceans, estuaries, tidal areas, (2) free flowing water in rivers, lakes, streams, and man-made channels, (3) differentials in salinity and pressure gradients, or (4) differentials in water temperature, including ocean thermal energy conversion
- Cross-cutting technologies: support other fields that can advance hydropower, pumped storage hydropower, and marine energy.
- Outcome – Has a benefit to the broader hydropower or marine energy industries.
- Alignment – Has a clear alignment with the Manufacturing Demonstration Facility’s R&D scope and scientific interest and the DOE WPTO’s Advanced Manufacturing and Materials for Hydropower Strategy and/or Multi-Year Program Plan for Marine Energy.
- Non-duplicative – Has a unique scope of work that does not duplicate any currently federally funded projects.
* Entities that are determined by the Program to engage in indecent, obscene, or unprofessional behavior will be excluded from consideration.
Objectives
This solicitation is aligned with prioritization goals of WPTO. Projects developed under this program should provide value to the hydropower and marine energy industries, at large.
WPTO is specifically interested in projects that:
- Reduce operations and maintenance costs
- Reduce lead time and capital costs
- Improve component or system performance
- Encourage the development of new technology and novel designs
- Encourage industry reshoring and increase the availability of critical equipment
- Increase worker safety and satisfaction
- Validate and certify processes for commercial adopters
- Improve sustainability and reduce environmental risk
- Inform decision making
How It Works
Project Development Processes
- Fill out the pre-application form provided on this site. The final document should be three pages or less in length. The form includes basic company information, a one-page concept summary, checkboxes for program alignment, and a half-page description of expected research outcomes.
- Send the completed pre-application form to the following email address: [email protected].
- The DOE WPTO and ORNL Water Power Program team will evaluate the eligibility and relevance of the idea to the WPTO mission (2 week process).
- If the idea is pre-selected, the company will engage with MDF to evaluate the technical feasibility, co-develop a project plan, and must submit the draft full proposal within 6 months to the DOE for final approval.
- If all the requirements are met, ORNL and the participants will co-develop a project plan and submit it to the Department of Energy for final validation.
- A Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) is established. Estimated CRADA processing time is approximately 2 months for US entities.*
* Note: CRADA processing times for non-US companies are about twice as long due to additional DOE reviews.
Project Execution Timeline: Six Months to Eighteen Months
- At the time of completion, a final CRADA report will be prepared and published.
Funding
- Each project involves a 1:1 cost share of up to $240K per party. The participants’ cost share is “in-kind.”
- No funding changes hands between the parties. Applicants’ cost share is generally “in-kind”, including labor, materials, travel, equipment, and subcontract costs.