Resolute Marine Energy, Inc. of Watertown, Mass. has a system, which makes use of a buoy undulating on the ocean's surface to create a pumping action with an arm to a platform below, says Jim Kozubek, correspondent for UnionLeader.com.
Bill Staby, CEO of Resolute Marine, told the news organisation that currents were unexpectedly strong at the site of deployment, near the mouth of the Merrimack River, and a mooring line snapped, ending the test before the converter made it into the water.
Staby said his company will try again, probably next month.
Resolute Marine's wave power converter could be used in conjunction with offshore wind farms to even out the surges of power generated by wind, but its first application is powering aquaculture pens, which are used for producing fish.
"We are going to try to develop wave energy for cost-effective utility scale grid energy," said Staby, but he added: "Aquaculture needs power now to move offshore." Staby's converter was developed in part by Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Cliff Goudey, with a $90,000 Phase I grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and converts wave power to compressed air power.
Harnessing Ocean Power for Fish Farms
US - A company experimenting with wave power conversion attempted to test its device two miles off the coast of Newburyport, Massachusetts, to see if ocean waves in the region are strong enough to generate energy for offshore aquaculture.
