The Atlantic Marine Energy Center (AMEC), a section of the Department of Energy, has provided a research project at Stony Brook University with $12 million in funds to advance marine energy.
The project, led by Ali Khosronejad from the Department of Civil Engineering, collaborates with the University of New Hampshire, Lehigh University and the Coastal Studies Institute (CSI) in North Carolina. Stony Brook University’s role in the project is mostly computational research using AI and supercomputers.
“The main goal is basically to power the blue economy [ocean resources for economic growth],” said Khosronejad. “What we want to do is help the industry, startups and companies, and research institutes to test their devices and examine their performance before employing them. The other part of the project is to harness the wave energy for agriculture.”
The research has many moving parts. The team includes Ali Khosronejad (PI, associate professor) and Rigoberto Burgueño (co-PI, professor); Paolo Celli (co-PI, assistant professor) and Georgios Moutsanidis (co-PI, assistant professor) from civil engineering; and Fang Luo (co-PI, associate professor) from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. They are tackling new turbine blade materials meant for durability in marine environments, working with startups to test the devices, and holding bootcamps and short summer courses to teach students and stakeholders how to use the technology.
Engagement with the marine energy industry is another critical part of the project. The team wants to support the industry in understanding and utilizing marine energy resources, and one of the aspects they want communities to grasp is sustainable ocean-based aquaculture. To test its product, the SBU team is currently working with Verdon Power, a company in New York City. The company focuses on the Long Island Sound and East River in Manhattan.
“The other part of the project is to work with coastal communities to build trust so that they learn how they can harness the marine energy that’s available in the East Coast and to work with them to test their ideas,” said Khosronejad. “If a company or industry partner wants to test their new device for renewable energy, they can bring it to our partner university to test it on site in open water for them. My research team can also make a computer model of their product to investigate its performance.”
Some challenges of the project include tackling the knowledge gaps in how the turbines interact with the environment. Ways that the turbine interacts with marine environments include sediment impact and also local fish populations.
“Modern wind energy is about 25 years old and is almost developed,” said Khosronejad. “But marine energy is a relatively new concept. It has been utilized in Europe for a longer period of time, but here in the U.S., it’s a relatively new idea. That is why the DOE is supporting such research centers in collaboration with research universities to generate science and provide the needed tools for the industry to test their ideas.”
Team members of the project are excited by the possibilities of the research and by Stony Brook’s role in the matter.
“We are very excited about the growth of our department’s research activity in renewable energy,” said Rigoberto Burgueño, chair of the Department of Civil Engineering. “Our university’s geographical location is ideally suited to develop new knowledge and technology for harnessing the abundance of marine energy for improving the economy, workforce training and education. The multi-institutional collaboration allows researchers and the university to strengthen knowledge and resources in our collective effort to address the energy challenges of the present and future.”
— Angelina Livigni
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