Florida Atlantic University’s
Southeast National Marine Renewable Energy Center
Completes At Sea Testing

Florida Atlantic University’s Southeast National Marine Renewable Energy Center recently conducted the first at-sea tests of its ocean current research turbine offshore Fort Pierce, Florida. Two one hour tests were performed aboard TowBoatU.S. Ft. Lauderdale’s 96’ OSV, Richard L. Becker. These tests provided researchers with new data on the turbine’s behavior for further design, development and validation prior to attempting to generate power with the unit.

The turbine’s purpose is to assist commercial turbine developers with testing components, provide an opportunity to address gaps in technology, and serve as a fully evaluated research platform to benchmark ocean current concept performance. Tests provided valuable data about the turbine’s hydrodynamics while in tow. Along with three underwater cameras, the SNMREC team monitored incoming current flow, the motion of the turbine and the tension of the electro-mechanical-optical cable used to tow the turbine. The Centers’ engineers and researchers hope to tow the turbine again during the summer of 2014, when it is expected to generate up to 20 kW of power in 5 knots of flow for the first time.

TowBoatU.S. Ft. Lauderdale is proud to be a small part in the emergence of this developing form of renewable energy. Click Here to view a video of the deployment and log onto Southeast National Renewable Energy Center’s website at http://snmrec.fau.edu to learn more about this project and the overall mission of the Center.