Aquaculture, also known as aquafarming, is the breeding, rearing, and harvesting of fish, shellfish, algae, and other organisms in water environments. As aquaculture operations move further offshore and further from on shore power sources, and as the importance of clean energy becomes more crucial, a new solution is required to power the moored vessels involved in these operations.
Australian company Carnegie Clean Energy, in partnership with the Blue Economy Cooperative Research Centre and industry contributors, is developing MoorPower™, a wave energy product designed to provide clean and reliable energy and to reduce reliance on traditionally used diesel energy for moored vessels such as aquaculture feeding barges. Carnegie has experience with wave energy in its CETO technology which uses a submerged buoy moving with the motion of the waves. A power take-off system converts the orbital, circular wave motion into electrical energy.
Project partner Advanced Composite Structures Australia is prototyping and developing composite components and materials processes for the creation of the wave energy converters. The strength and corrosion-resistance of the composite components are ideal for the challenging environmental conditions of the project.
