The United States Department of Energy’s Water Power Technologies Office has awarded an $800,000 grant to Florida Atlantic University’s Southeast National Marine Renewable Energy Center (SNMREC) to support a testing facility to generate electricity from ocean currents.
The DOE has made significant investments in marine energy and many facilities test technologies for wave energy and tidal energy, but according to SNMREC there are no active test facilities for ocean currents. Ocean currents are strong “conveyer belts” in the ocean that help circulate cold and warm water around the planet. Some currents are driven by winds from the Coriolis effect, while others are driven by water temperature and salinity–when water evaporates from warmer waters, the colder, saltier water sinks.
There are many ocean currents, the strongest being the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. Others include the North and South Equatorial Currents and the Kuroshio Current. The Florida Current, which SNMREC researchers will use for testing, is part of the Gulf Stream. This current, constrained by the Bahamian Shelf, flows close to shore and near major population centers, which researchers said make it a prime candidate for energy generation. The challenge is developing efficient, reliable, cost-effective technologies to capture its energy.
Another challenge may be contending with the future of the Atlantic Meridonal Overturning Circulation (AMOC), a kind of “pump” that keeps many of the globe’s currents operating, which many scientists say is potentially at risk of shutting down. This could impact how much energy many currents generate.
SNMREC, in collaboration with a team of experts including The City of Lake Worth Beach Electric Utility, 3U Technologies, 48 North Solutions, IDOM Incorporated, Braid Theory, and the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC), is embarking on a feasibility study to set up an ocean current test facility offshore Palm Beach County.
“The Southeast National Marine Renewable Energy’s vision for a blue energy hub in Southeast Florida represents a significant step forward in renewable energy technology,” said Gregg Fields, Ph.D., FAU vice president for research. “By establishing a dedicated test facility, we hope to pave the way for a future where ocean currents become a key player in our clean energy landscape.”
The project’s end goal is to improve U.S. competitiveness in marine energy technology, encourage domestic manufacturing, and create jobs while helping to achieve the nation’s energy goals. SNMREC aims to create a blue energy industry cluster in Southeast Florida that covers all aspects of utility-scale ocean current energy projects, including turbine development, undersea cables and marine services, leveraging its role in the ClimateReady Tech Hub and the Marine Research Hub.
“Southeast Florida is ideal for ocean current energy projects not only because of its favorable ocean current conditions but also due to several supportive socio-economic factors,” said Gabriel Alsenas, principal investigator and director of SNMREC at FAU Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute. “Major ports, such as the Port of Palm Beach and Port Everglades, straddle SNMREC’s proposed test site offshore Palm Beach County to provide excellent access. Local utilities such as the City of Lake Worth Beach’s municipal utility and Florida Power & Light offer essential grid connections and support for a clean energy transition. Additionally, SNMREC has a strong network and extensive experience assisting current energy conversion technologies developers at various stages, further enhancing the region’s attractiveness for these projects.”
Founded in 2010 as a federal center, SNMREC is one of the nation’s four U.S. Department of Energy Marine Renewable Energy Centers.
