The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has issued a lease allowing Florida Atlantic University (FAU) to test marine hydrokinetic technology off the shores of Florida, the first time a lease has been issued to test ocean current energy equipment in Federal waters.
FAU's Southeast National Marine Renewable Energy Center (SNMREC) applied for the lease to deploy experimental demonstration devices in an area located approximately 10 to 12 nautical miles offshore Fort Lauderdale.
“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 renewables research, a successful public, private partnership and FAU's international leadership in the field."
The proposed project involves the installation of multiple anchored floating "test berths" to evaluate ocean current turbine designs. Each test berth will consist of a buoy anchored to the sea floor to measure ocean conditions and allow ocean current turbine prototypes to be deployed from vessels moored in the Gulf Stream. Now that the lease has been executed, FAU may submit a project plan for BOEM's review.
The lease announcement builds on BOEM's activities to grow offshore renewable energy through issuing leases for renewable energy activities. BOEM has awarded five commercial wind energy leases off the Atlantic coast: two non-competitive leases and three competitive leases. BOEM expects to hold additional competitive auctions for wind energy areas offshore Maryland, Massachusetts and New Jersey this year.
Off the Pacific Coast, BOEM has given the approval for Principle Power, Inc. to submit a formal plan to build a 30MW pilot project using floating wind turbine technology offshore Coos Bay, Oregon and is reviewing an application from the National Northwest Marine Energy Center-Oregon State University for a research lease to evaluate wave energy converter performance.
