The SNMREC Preferred Partner Program is an opportunity for our industry partners to collaborate more fully with the Center. This program is designed to dedicate SNMREC experts and resources to individual industry partner development needs.
News
Submitted by galsenas on Tue, 06/03/2014 - 12:21
FAU to Install World’s First Ocean Current Energy Test Site
BOCA RATON, Fla. (June 3, 2014) – Researchers at Florida Atlantic University’s Southeast National Marine Renewable Energy Center (SNMREC) will soon install the world’s first offshore test berth for small-scale ocean current turbines thanks to a recently signed five-year lease agreement between FAU and the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM).
“This project is a potentially paradigm-shifting development in the global quest for clean energy sources and puts South Florida at the forefront of research in this critical effort,” FAU President John Kelly said. “It also demonstrates the multidisciplinary nature of marine renewable’s research, a successful public, private partnership and FAU’s international leadership in the field.”
The lease allows installation of multiple anchored floating test berths on the U.S. outer continental shelf 13 miles (22 km) offshore from Broward County, Fla. These test berths, each consisting of a buoy anchored to the sea floor, allow ocean current turbine prototypes (up to 100kW generation capacity) to be deployed from vessels moored in the Gulf Stream for a few weeks at a time.
“This is the first time a lease has been issued to test ocean current energy equipment in Federal waters,” said BOEM Acting Director Walter Cruickshank. “The Gulf Stream contains a tremendous amount of energy, and this technology offers exciting potential to expand the nation’s renewable energy portfolio.”
Industry partners will have the opportunity to evaluate the efficacy of their turbine designs while mooring buoys collect measurements of ocean conditions nearby.
“Our team’s hard work and dedication to our vision is symbolized by the signed lease,” said Susan Skemp, director of SNMREC in FAU’s College of Engineering and Computer Science. “We are now looking forward to working closely with our industry partners as we begin to collectively evaluate equipment to generate power from ocean currents and continue to inform future regulatory processes.”
FAU’s SNMREC has been working since 2007 to establish the world’s first offshore ocean current turbine test site. Researchers recently performed a successful final sea trial of the first test berth buoy as well as preliminary tow tests of a small-scale research turbine in late 2013 — key steps before the installation of the test site. Before receiving a lease offer from BOEM, an environmental assessment of the project concluded that “no significant impact” was expected. Before installation of the first test berth planned this year, a project plan will be reviewed by BOEM. This work is supported by close to $20 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy, the state of Florida and private companies.
FAU SNMREC's lease application, a revised environmental assessment, as well as Findings of No Significant Impact (FONSI), can be accessed on BOEM's Florida Activities web page here. For more information, contact Susan Skemp at 561-297-2339 or sskemp@fau.edu.
BOEM's press release can be accessed here, and FAU's announcement here.
-FAU-
About the Southeast National Marine Renewable Energy Center (SNMREC):
Florida Atlantic University’s Center for Ocean Energy Technology was founded with a $5 million award from the State of Florida in January 2007 to help ocean energy technologies become cost-competitive with existing power technologies. In August 2010, the U.S. Department of Energy designated it as a national center for ocean energy research and development to advance the operational readiness of ocean energy technologies. With that designation, the center became known as the Southeast National Marine Renewable Energy Center (SNMREC). The SNMREC is collaborating with industry partners to investigate, refine, fabricate, and test promising next-generation water power technologies to harness the oceans’ vast energy potential. The Center’s researchers have deployed ocean current observation systems, measured environmental baselines to evaluate potential effects, and prepared support infrastructure for ocean energy equipment testing. The Center will ultimately assist with full-scale field testing of prototype turbine devices, a necessary step toward successful commercialization of ocean energy technologies. As a public institution of higher education, FAU is also promoting public awareness of ocean energy research and development, and is developing curricula to educate a workforce for this new industry. For more information, visit snmrec.fau.edu.
About Florida Atlantic University:
Florida Atlantic University, established in 1961, officially opened its doors in 1964 as the fifth public university in Florida. Today, the University serves more than 29,000 undergraduate and graduate students at sites throughout its six-county service region in southeast Florida, where its annual economic impact exceeds $6.3 billion. FAU’s world-class teaching and research faculty serves students through 10 colleges: the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, the College of Business, the College for Design and Social Inquiry, the College of Education, the College of Engineering and Computer Science, the Graduate College, the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College, the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine, the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing and the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science. FAU is ranked as a High Research Activity institution by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The University is placing special focus on the rapid development of three signature themes – marine and coastal issues, biotechnology and contemporary societal challenges – which provide opportunities for faculty and students to build upon FAU’s existing strengths in research and scholarship. For more information, visit www.fau.edu.
