Marine Renewable Energy Coallition (MRECo) of New England

Mission

The New England Marine Renewable Energy Collaborative (MRECo) is a nonprofit corporation that educates and involves all stakeholders (Academic, industry, governmental/regulatory, and public interest groups) to promote the sustainable development of renewable energy in New England ocean waters.

To do this, MRECo must establish:

Updated 12/2/2017!

• Processes and relationships to allow effective transfer of technology from universities to industry.
•  A world class academic consortium to train the workforce of the future and to assist industry with basic and applied research.
• An industry user group to elicit research needs and to assist in advocating.
• Permanent ocean test sites to facilitate research and demonstration.
• Involvement of public interest groups to minimize ocean ecosystem impact.

News of Interest!

• Researchers Look at Tidal Turbines as Renewable Energy Source
  WCAI - Local NPR for the Cape, Coast & Islands
  By

• Researchers Look at Tidal Turbines as Renewable Energy Source
  WCAI - Local NPR for the Cape, Coast & Islands
  By SARAH TAN - 5/15/2018

  With its rushing current and ever-changing tides, the Cape Cod Canal has become the country’s first test site for a new kind of renewable energy source. Researchers at the University of Rhode Island and the Marine Renewable Energy Collaborative hope that soon they'll be able to add tidal energy to the list of renewable energy sources, and the canal could be the place where companies test prototypes... [ Follow this link to hear the broadcast and read the full story! >>> ]

  

  
  Eben Franks of the Marine Renewable Energy Collaborative along the Cape Cod Canal.
  CREDIT SARAH TAN / WCAI

• MRECo Executive Director, John Miller was interviewed by Sarah Tan at WCAI-Woods Hole, MA. Tan wanted to know what is happening with tidal energy world wide, in the US and at the Bourne Tidal Test Site located in the Cape Cod Canal. The story will be combined with a field interview Tan will make to the BTTS later next week (weather dependent).
• For Immediate Release [ Follow this link for a printable version of this news release. >>> ]Info Contact: Maggie Merrill Communications Manager, MRECo; comms@mreconewengland.org, 617-306-2764
  

  University of Rhode Island Students Retrieve ADCP at Bourne Tidal Test Site

  

  L-R BTTS Site Manager C. Eben Franks, URI crew: Soroush Kouhi, Chris Small, Sandra Deeb, Jesse Moore

  

  ADCP Popped to surface for retrieval at BTTS in Cape Cod Canal

  As part of a research project, entitled, “Assessment of the Tidal Energy at a Demonstration Site: Cape Cod Canal, MA, URI doctoral student, Soroush Kouhi and three URI Ocean Engineering students went out to the Bourne Tidal Test Site Friday Jan. 19, 2018 to retrieve the Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) that was deployed one month ago to take water column velocity data. The data will be analyzed  to show what the water velocities were for 30  days. The high resolution data will be correlated to result in a projected energy power output. Determining projected power output for a tidal testing area is important because when device developers install their own turbines at the BTTS, they can compare data from their turbine to the actual energy output recorded by the URI team. Of course every turbine is different but all designers hope to top or match their previous power output results.

  

  URI and MRECo crew installing water level senor atop the BTTS Platform.

  

  Soroush Kouhi listening to the Teledyne ADCP chirping at the boat ramp.

  The Teledyne ADCP is enshrouded in a bottom mount frame – called a Trawl Resistant Bottom Mount - that is very rugged and is easy to deploy and recover. It was simply placed overboard, fell to the seafloor, was tethered to the BTTS structure and left to collect data for the past month. As with anything that enters the challenging marine environment, the ADCP was seen being buffeted by the currents and the ice floes that move by with the current. Mercifully its buoyancy bladder deployed on target and it floated to the surface for retrieval. “Now we have the hard work to do. We have to get all the data, analyze and process it and determine next steps. This will take a month or so” said Kouhi.

  While out there, the team lead by MRECo’s BTTS Site Manager C. Eben Franks installed is a downward looking sea surface level sensor that will correlate tidal heights with the water velocities recorded underwater by the ADCP. All of this data will be combined to further characterize the water flow environment at the BTTS.

  [ Follow this link for a printable version of this news release. >>> ]

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