Technology Evaluation & Development Advisory (TEDA) at National Laboratory of the Rockies, Sandia National Laboratories

Facility Overview

The TEDA facility incorporates Technology Performance Level (TPL) assessment, providing a thorough evaluation of a technology’s design strengths and weaknesses, along with a recommended development pathway to guide technical  improvements that enhance commercial viability.

For over a decade, National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR) and Sandia National Laboratories (Sandia) and NLR have developed marine energy technology evaluation tools for wave, current, and various other ocean-based industries. Among these tools are TPL assessments, which are conducted in the precommercial development stage and are used to evaluate the potential of a technology to perform economically as a product when fully commercialized. Unlike technology readiness level (TRL), TPL assessments target techno-economic performance, a key indicator of commercial success. The TPL assessment tool is a key phase of a TEDA effort.

TEDA process follows these three steps:

1. Create a detailed description of the technology.
2. Apply the appropriate TPL assessment tool using the technology description.
3. Create a technology development plan derived from the outcomes of the TPL assessment.

TPL assessments have great value at any TRL, and it is recommended to apply the market-specific TPL tool(s) iteratively throughout the technology maturation process. TPL assessments at low TRLs aim to identify knowledge gaps and catch and avoid critical design weaknesses. The reduced uncertainty and increased specificity of assessment responses at higher TRLs allow for highly focused improvement pathways to be developed. The TEDA process can thus develop useful feedback throughout the device development process to identify the next logical, high-impact step toward commercial success. The TPL tool for grid- connected wave energy (https://tpl.nlr.gov/assessment) is hosted online. TPL tools for other markets presently live as Excel files that are available upon request, and will soon be publicly released.

TEDA is a collaboration between the NLR and Sandia, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Hydropower and Hydrokinetic Office.