UNC-CSI Deploys Wave Power Device Offshore Jennette’s Pier (USA)

A wave power conversion device, designed by Resolute Marine Energy, has been recently deployed offshore Jennette’s Pier.

The UNC Coastal Studies Institute assisted in coordination of the project and will deploy ocean-monitoring equipment and evaluate data in partnership with Jennette’s Pier.

The device is called SurgeWEC, and it is developed to perform most efficiently in shallower water and depends on the rise of the waves.

It was lowered off the end of the pier last week by a compact crane.

It is placed roughly twenty feet beneath the surface,on the ocean bottom.

Massive bricks fit into the base as a ballast system, and two large anchors hold the device in case of heavy seas.

The arrangement took two days for two commercial divers, who worked beneath the surface to place the device.

Cables attached to the device transfer information to computers inside a study hut at the end of Jennette’s Pier.

The computers then send out the information wirelessly to scientists at Resolute Marine Energy and UNC-CSI.

The wave power device is a prototype and has been tested in wave containers, but this will be its first test in the marine surroundings.

The goal of the arrangement is to test the effects of the sea environment and device’s prospective on a greater scale.

The project is part of a program started by the North Carolina General Assembly and handled by the University of North Carolina Coastal Studies Institute.

The larger task involves specialists from the Colleges of Engineering at N.C. State University, UNC Charlotte, North Carolina A&T University,and professionals from UNC-Chapel Hill, Johns Hopkins University, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Scripps Oceanographic Institute.

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Subsea World News Staff , December 15, 2011;  Image: tos