Powering the blue economy

How can we contribute to saving our oceans and coastal areas to ensure environmental sustainability? “Science, innovation, and the exploration of the unknown…” are at the heart of the U.S. Department of Energy’s mission of “Powering the Blue Economy” – the theme of their Marine Energy Collegiate Competition (MECC).

This summer, a team of students from UMass Dartmouth’s College of Engineering and Charlton College of Business helped set the standard for renewable energy in an ocean application during the virtual competition. The inaugural event challenged 15 teams of undergraduate and graduate students representing colleges from around the globe to come up with innovative marine energy solutions to power the Blue Economy. Students put their creativity and skillsets to the test to develop marine energy solutions for next-generation technologies such as autonomous vehicles to advance ocean exploration, battery and fuel cell technology for marine transportation, desalination to serve coastal and island communities, offshore renewable energy, and alternative fuels.

The UMassD MADWEC concept is a small scale, low cost, low maintenance,and configurable solution for providing ocean power to sensors, underwater vehicles, and other local energy uses. It uses a tethered buoy to create rotation and drive a bank of generators. Shown here, the MADWEC is powering a variety of ocean sensors and satellite communications for data upload.

Students innovate ways

Blue Economy

“For students majoring in mechanical engineering, this has overlapped with their senior design capstone project. A similar classroom experience is true for the business school involved,” said Daniel MacDonald, professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, who served as team advisor along with Mehdi Raessi, associate professor of Mechanical Engineering, and Peter Karlson, adjunct professor at the Charlton College of Business.

The UMass Dartmouth project builds on earlier work at the University focused around the creation of a smallscale wave energy conversion (WEC) device, known as MADWEC 2.0, which stands for Maximal Asymmetric Drag Wave Energy Converter. Earlier efforts involved the design and modeling of a tethered ballast system to keep the WEC stable in the water column. The 2019- 20 MECC team engineering students designed a new power take off for the ballast system, which is the mechanical component that actually captures energy and transforms it into electricity.

In addition, a team of business students have performed marketing research and developed a business plan and licensing strategy to bring the technology to the marketplace. MADWEC 2.0 fills an important niche in the marine technology sector, with the capability of providing

low-cost, low-maintenance power for local applications in the ocean, such as powering robotic under-water vehicles, oceanographic sensors, or underwater communication nodes. A source of readily available, low-cost power could transform the ocean landscape and revolutionize the way we manage, do commerce in, and learn about the ocean.

Teams were tasked with creating and presenting market research-supported business plans and conceptual-level design of a marketable device that powers a sector of the blue economy. Project management, communication, and scheduling skills were also tested. “This has been a great opportunity for students to put into practice many examples of “textbook” learning, and apply them to a new and emerging field,” said MacDonald. In addition to getting an in-depth view of an emerging industry, students had the opportunity to network with others across the country and internationally, and learn how to apply their skills to Blue Economy problems.

Competitors also had the chance to interact with the judges and discuss marine energy technologies and Blue Economy opportunities as well as career paths with industry experts. “The opportunity to interact with Department of

Energy and National Renewable Energy Laboratory personnel and to be part of the larger community of teams and students representing 15 different institutions has been a valuable experience, realizing that all the teams are facing similar challenges,” said MacDonald. “The Department of Energy benefits by exposing talented young people to the industry, and, hopefully, turning on a lot of bright energetic young minds to solving ocean related energy problems. We are looking forward to continuing next year with a new team.” a

UMassD MECC team:

Faculty advisors • Daniel MacDonald, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering • Peter Karlson, Adjunct Professor at the Charlton College of Business • Mehdi Raessi, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering Student leaders • Gregory Browne ’20, Mechanical Engineering • Sumalee Frank ’20, Management-Leadership Student team members • Christopher Dill ’21, Civil Engineering, MS • Abigail Mangsen ’20, Marketing • Mason Menard ’20, Management-Leadership • Christopher Meninno ’20, Mechanical Engineering • William Michaud ’20, Mechanical Engineering • Ariel St. Germaine ‘21, MBA Marketing • Veronica Szymczak ’20, Marketing • Alexa Van Voorhis ’22, Bioengineering • Nicholas White ’20, Mechanical Engineering umassd.edu/engineering

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