Collaborative Research: On making wave energy an economical and reliable power source for ocean measurement applications

Michigan Technological University, Houghton MI

Investigators

Abstract

Long-term, unattended operation of oceanographic instrumentation is dependent on the availability of power to operate the instruments. The PIs will investigate new wave power conversion technologies for use in operating oceanographic instrumentation at sea. Current wave energy conversion technologies make wave power bulky and uneconomical for oceanographic and ocean science applications. The PIs request funding to investigate enhancements that may enable integration of wave power conversion hardware into small oceanographic buoys. The proposed effort represents a significant advance over current wave energy conversion approaches and is expected to be an important step towards making wave power utilization cost-effective for ocean sensing applications.