Florida Tech to Deploy Ocean Engineering Student Project Nov. 6 and Generate Energy from Waves

MELBOURNE, FLA.—Students in Florida Institute of Technology’s Department of Marine and Environmental Systems (DMES) will deploy their culminating engineering project, the Wing Wave Ocean Energy Generator, on Saturday, Nov. 6. They’ve chosen a sandy location two miles off the coast, in 40 feet of water, just north of Fort Pierce for a one-week test. Deployment will be off the R/V Thunderforce.

The seven-member team designed their project as a primary way to produce electrical power from wave energy. Team members are Thomas Carney, Mark Christian, Jennifer Draher, Fadi Fahs, Christopher Hodgkins, Ravall Ramsaroop and Jhenelle Williams.

“The wildlife-friendly Wing Wave Ocean Energy Generator demonstrates that a hydrokinetic ocean wave energy system has practical applications for the Atlantic coast of Florida. This completely submerged test system will provide us with important data for implementing a full-scale deployment of hundreds of these devices to power entire counties, such as Brevard,” said the team’s academic adviser Stephen Wood, chair of the ocean engineering program. The project created a lot of “buzz” during the DMES field projects 2010 symposium last July.

The Wing Wave has attracted the attention of corporate sponsors SebaiCMET and Clean Green Enterprises Inc., both of Tallahassee. Additional sponsors are looking at mass producing the Wing Wave and possibly linking it to the power grid off Brevard or Indian River counties.

“Recently, representatives of Melbourne, Brevard County and Kennedy Space Center have expressed support in commercializing Wing Wave,” said Wood.

For more information contact Wood at (321) 674-7244 or swood@fit.edu.