Wave Energy Conversion to power offshore Aquaculture Operations

Ocean Farm Technologies, Inc. (OFT) proposes to continue investigating using ocean wave energy in the form of compressed air to power open ocean aquaculture operations.   In Phase I, OPT designed, built and began testing an affordable and efficient wave energy converter (WEC) that generated and stored compressed air.  In Phase II OFT will demonstrate using compressed air from an improved WEC design to provide operational power for remote buoyancy and rotation control on AquapodTM net pens.  The prototype “AirWEC” produced during Phase II will be lighter, more durable, and less expensive than the Phase I model based on the substantial experience gained from the feasibility study.  Successful completion of Phase II will produce enough performance data to determine economic viability of this innovative technology and the potential size of its market.  OFT intends to commercialize the resulting technology to enhance the performance of its Aquapod system and market the Air compression Wave Energy Converter (AirWEC) system in the broader open ocean aquaculture sector globally.