SHARKS | DE FOA 0002334

SHARKS (Submarine Hydrokinetic and Riverine Kilo-Megawatt Systems) Funding Opportunity FAQs

1) What is the SHARKS funding opportunity?

SHARKS (Submarine Hydrokinetic and Riverine Kilo-Megawatt Systems) is a Department of Energy ARPA-E funding program focused on advancing tidal and river-current power technology (hydrokinetic turbines) to substantially lower cost and higher performance than what is commercially available today.

2) Which DOE office is running SHARKS?

The opportunity is run by ARPA-E (Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy) within the U.S. Department of Energy.

3) What is ARPA-E trying to fund in general?

ARPA-E focuses on high-risk, high-reward applied research and development that is still too early for typical private investment. The program emphasizes potentially disruptive technologies that can create new cost and performance learning curves rather than only incremental improvements.

4) What kinds of energy resources does SHARKS target?

SHARKS targets hydrokinetic energy from moving water, specifically tidal environments and riverine (river-current) environments. The emphasis is on generating electricity without dams by using hydrokinetic turbines (HKTs).

5) What is the practical deployment vision for SHARKS technologies?

The program describes deployment potential for hydrokinetic turbines in locations near population centers, in remote microgrids, and in broader blue economy applications.

6) Why does SHARKS emphasize tidal and river-current power?

The opportunity highlights several resource strengths: tidal and river-current resources are renewable, highly predictable, and often located close to where electricity is needed.

7) Does SHARKS prioritize low-impact or environmentally mindful designs?

Yes. The program notes the potential for devices with low visual impact and a potentially minimal environmental footprint compared with many other forms of generation, while still aiming for real-world deployment practicality.

8) Is SHARKS mainly about improving individual turbine components?

No. SHARKS stresses integrated, multidisciplinary design from the beginning rather than isolated component improvements. The FOA framing suggests the biggest challenges are tightly coupled across hydrodynamics, structures, materials, maintenance, drivetrain/generator sizing, controls, energy capture, and survivability.

9) What does SHARKS mean by integrated or system-level design?

The opportunity emphasizes designing the turbine as a unified system where hydrodynamics, structural loads, materials choices, maintenance needs, drivetrain and generator sizing, control strategies, efficiency, and survivability are treated as interdependent design variables rather than sequential steps.

10) What design frameworks does SHARKS highlight?

SHARKS specifically highlights modern system-level design approaches including Control Co-Design (CCD), Co-Design (CD), and Designing-for-OpEx (DFO).

11) What is Control Co-Design (CCD) in the context of SHARKS?

Based on the opportunity description, CCD means the control system and the turbine hardware are designed together from the start. Competitive projects are expected to treat the turbine and its controls as one integrated machine.

12) What is Designing-for-OpEx (DFO) in the context of SHARKS?

Designing-for-OpEx (DFO) refers to designing with operating expenditure in mind across the full life of the device. The program signals that design choices should explicitly account for how they influence operations and maintenance (O&M) strategy and cost over time.

13) What role do modeling, simulation, and experiments play in SHARKS?

The opportunity indicates teams should use modeling and simulation alongside experimental validation to converge on designs that are efficient and practical to operate and maintain in harsh water environments.

14) Does SHARKS require physical testing?

Yes. A key expectation is physical testing in water of critical systems and subsystems to validate design assumptions. The program framing indicates it is not intended to be only paper studies.

15) What types of technical work are considered in scope?

The program indicates interest in complete and credible turbine concepts and enabling subsystems, including (but not limited to): hydrodynamic design, structural and mechanical architecture, materials, coupled hydro-structural behavior, electrical energy conversion, controls, numerical simulation tools, and experimental work.

16) What performance and cost goals does SHARKS emphasize?

SHARKS targets substantially lower levelized cost of energy (LCOE), with a stated goal on the order of a 60% LCOE reduction relative to the state of the art referenced in the FOA. The program frames this as coming from a combination of improved energy capture, larger effective rotor area for a given mass, lower operations and maintenance costs, and reduced potential negative environmental interactions.

17) How does SHARKS describe its optimization approach?

SHARKS proposes an explicit optimization metric space balancing two core measures: (1) swept rotor area per unit of equivalent system mass (a proxy for energy-capturing capability per mass that must be built, deployed, and supported), and (2) water-to-electron efficiency (how effectively the system converts water kinetic energy into delivered electrical power).

18) What is meant by swept rotor area per unit of equivalent system mass?

In the opportunity description, this is presented as a proxy metric for how much energy-capturing capability a design provides relative to the mass of the system that must be manufactured, deployed, and supported.

19) What is water-to-electron efficiency?

Water-to-electron efficiency is described as how effectively the hydrokinetic system converts the kinetic energy of moving water into delivered electrical power.

20) Is SHARKS focused on basic research?

No. The solicitation reiterates ARPA-E's focus on applied research and experimental development, as opposed to basic research.

21) If a project is more fundamental or more incremental, is SHARKS still the right fit?

The opportunity text indicates ARPA-E points applicants toward other DOE offices and user facilities when a project is better aligned with fundamental science or with more incremental technology roadmaps.

22) What is the FOA number for this opportunity?

The funding opportunity announcement is DOE FOA DE-FOA-0002334.

23) What type of awards does ARPA-E expect to make under SHARKS?

Awards are made as grants and/or cooperative agreements.

24) How many awards are anticipated?

The program anticipated around 12 awards.

25) What is the maximum award size?

The award ceiling is $10,000,000 per project.

26) Who is eligible to apply?

Eligibility is described as broadly unrestricted, meaning applications can come from many entity types, subject to any additional FOA-specific eligibility clarifications.

27) How were applications required to be submitted?

Applications had to be submitted through ARPA-E eXCHANGE. The opportunity notes submissions were not accepted by email or other portals.

28) Was a concept paper required, and when was it due?

The original posting listed a concept paper due date of May 27, 2020.

29) What distinguishes SHARKS from incremental turbine development programs?

Based on the opportunity description, SHARKS emphasizes potentially disruptive, system-level redesign using co-design and designing-for-OpEx principles, combined with modeling and in-water experimental validation, with the explicit intent of moving to much lower LCOE rather than making only incremental gains.

30) What is the core technical message to applicants?

The core message is that competitive SHARKS projects should present credible hydrokinetic turbine concepts or enabling subsystems designed as integrated systems (controls, mechanical, electrical, and O&M strategy together), backed by simulation and physical in-water testing, and oriented toward major LCOE reduction.