Minesto and Florida Atlantic University to Examine Ocean Current Power
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Minesto and Florida Atlantic University to Examine Ocean Current Power

Swedish marine energy technology company Minesto, developer of the Deep Green tidal and ocean current power plant, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Florida Atlantic University. The purpose is to examine the technical, environmental and economic feasibility to install demonstration and commercial power plants in the Florida current.

Florida Atlantic University (FAU) is home to the Southeast National Marine Renewable Energy Center (SNMREC), a federally designated U.S. research and testing centre with the mission to help accelerate the commercial realisation of marine renewable energy recovery, with a preliminary focus on the Gulf Stream. By executing this MoU, Minesto and FAU aim to develop a partnership with cooperative mutual research, testing and educational activities.

Anders Jansson, CEO of Minestom, mentions that the ocean current market is huge and unexplored; according to the US Department of Energy the Gulf Stream can supply nearly 30% of the power consumption in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, which is up to 163TWh electricity. In monetary value that’s equivalent to USD15bn per year in sales of electricity.

Minesto´s tidal and ocean current power plant called Deep Green looks like an underwater kite and is based on a fundamentally new principle for electricity generation from tidal and ocean currents. Deep Green recently became the first known marine power plant to generate electricity from low velocity currents, which is seen as a breakthrough for marine energy.

Ocean current power is a renewable and unexplored energy source. The currents exist in open oceans and they flow predominantly in the same direction. That is why ocean current energy can be a reliable, non-intermittent, renewable energy resource that can supply base grid power, while matching the reliability of nuclear, gas and coal power – a unique claim for renewable energy sources which is crucial for a stable and reliable energy mix. The potential in the Florida Current could be 4 to 6GW, comparable with 2-5 large nuclear power plants. The velocities in ocean currents are often in the range between 1-2.5m/s, which is suitable for Deep Green.

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