With the lease agreement signed, researchers at Florida Atlantic University’s Southeast National Marine Renewable Energy Center (SNMREC).
FAU President John Kelly said project demonstrates the multidisciplinary nature of marine renewable’s research and a successful partnership
"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,"
Multiple anchored floating test berths will be installed on the US outer continental shelf 13 miles (22km) offshore from Broward County, Florida.
Comprising a buoy anchored to the sea floor, the test berths will enable ocean current turbine prototypes (up to 100kW generation capacity) to be deployed from vessels which are moored in the Gulf Stream for a few weeks at a time.
BOEM acting director Walter Cruickshank said that this lease has been issued for the first time to test ocean current energy equipment in Federal waters.
"The Gulf Stream contains a tremendous amount of energy, and this technology offers exciting potential to expand the nation’s renewable energy portfolio," Cruickshank added.
FAU College of Engineering and Computer Science SNMREC director Susan Skemp said, "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."
