Waves to Water Prize
Paid teams a $3.3 million pool to build wave-powered desalination units for disaster relief.
Beyond the $500,000 grand prize, the DOE announced four additional $125,000 pots at the DRINK Stage. Two went to single teams outright, Team WATER BROS for the lightest device and Team Oneka for producing the most water, while the other two were split by scored performance across all four finalists: for simplest assembly, Oneka received $80,000, Mark Zero Prototypes $20,000, WATER BROS $17,000 andโฆ
Sought small, modular, wave-powered desalination systems that produce potable drinking water in disaster relief scenarios and remote coastal locations. Devices had to survive varied wave conditions, deploy in under 48 hours, fit a standard shipping container, and avoid environmental harm from brine discharge.
Sign up free to see the funding breakdown
Sign up free to see the industries in scope
Sign up free to see the full eligibility
Sign up free to see how to apply
Sign up free to see where teams trip up
Guides for this application
All guides โGrant Pitch Deck Example: Slides, Storyline, and Video Script
See a grant pitch deck example with slide outline, EIC-style pitch logic, demo-video script, and grant-vs-investor deck differences.
Submit & reportSAM.gov Registration and UEI Guide for Federal Grant Applicants
Learn how SAM.gov registration, UEI numbers, Grants.gov accounts, organization profiles, workspace roles, and renewal timing fit together.
BudgetIndirect Costs in Grants: Rates, MTDC, and Examples
Understand indirect costs in grants, including direct vs indirect costs, negotiated rates, de minimis rates, MTDC, funder caps, and budget narrative implications.
More from DOE WPTO
All grants from this funder โFish Protection Prize
๐บ๐ธDOE WPTO ยท United States
Awards up to $700,000 in cash and vouchers for fish-exclusion technology at water diversions.
Power At Sea Prize
๐บ๐ธDOE WPTO ยท United States
Pays teams up to $1.5 million combined to build early-stage marine energy systems that supply reliable power at sea.
Similar grants
Browse the directory โWater Resource Recovery Prize
๐บ๐ธDOE AMO ยท United States
Pays up to $1 million to teams recovering energy, nutrients and water from wastewater plants.
MAKE IT Prize Strategies Track
๐บ๐ธDOE OTT ยท United States
Pays regional teams up to $250,000 to build a roadmap and secure manufacturer commitments for critical energy technology manufacturing in their community.
Storage Design Strategies to Ease Production (STEP) Prize
๐บ๐ธDOE OE ยท United States
Pays up to $500,000 across two phases to energy-storage designs with early manufacturability.
Microbattery Design Prize
๐บ๐ธAMMTO ยท United States
Pays teams up to $300,000 to design small-capacity batteries that beat today's microbatteries on performance, safety and recyclability.
American-Made PRIME Prize
๐บ๐ธSETO ยท United States
Funds U.S. solar manufacturers and innovators registering photovoltaic modules and inverters with the EPEAT ecolabel through a prize competition.
Geothermal Geophone Prize
๐บ๐ธDOE ยท United States
Awards up to $2.7 million in cash prizes for high-temperature geothermal seismic sensors.