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Briney, buttery and firm are some words that you might want to see describing the fare on an oyster house menu, but never solarized… until now. 
Mattapoisett’s Robert Field of Copper Beech Farm, with the assistance of Roger Williams University Professor Dale Leavitt, has designed and constructed a creative off-the-grid solar electric (photovoltaic or “PV”) project for aquaculture use. His invention pairs a barge containing PV panels and battery storage with a conventional floating upwelling system (FLUPSY), a device that aquaculturalists use to force feed nutrient rich water to infant shellfish.
The invention has come to Massachusetts at just the right time. As aquaculture continues to expand here in the Commonwealth, aquaculturalists using traditional land-tied technology have often found themselves competing for space with other commercial and recreational uses of littoral waters. This new and improved FLUPSY, now free from a shore-based energy source, allows siting of shellfish nurseries in more remote, less controversial areas.
The PV system consists of six, off-the-shelf 245 watt solar panels mounted on an angled wooden rack, an electrical distribution box, a charge controller that regulates the current from solar panels to the battery bank, nine 12-volt batteries in a wooden storage compartment, a 1/3 horsepower DC motor, a belt and a shaft and propeller. The two floats are pinned together to form a nearly square, articulating platform with its corners chained to mushroom anchors and oriented to face the southern sunlight. The battery bank is sized to operate for 3 days plus without recharge from the panels. To date, the system has performed better than expected, providing more than enough energy to operate the FLUPSY.
The project was funded in part by the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAR) Ag-Energy Grant, an annual competitive funding program aimed at financing agricultural energy projects that improve energy efficiency and incorporate alternative clean energy technologies on Massachusetts farms. MDAR’s staff looks forward to working with Field to further promote this technology concept to the entire aquaculture industry.
Tags: ag-energy, aquaculture, farming, FLUPSY, oyster, photovoltaics, PV, shellfish, solar
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Love to see new technology in use. I know nothing about raising oysters or other aquaculture….. What is the electricity used for?
Hi Kristina, Thanks for your question on the aquaculture solar energy blog. Aquaculture’s main energy use is drawing (pumping) ocean water up through the screened bottomed bins of shellfish contained within the floating upwelling system (the FLUPSY) to provide the nutrients the shellfish need to grow, as they normally would receive if they were living in the ocean. The water drawn into the bins then flows out through outlet pipes located near the upper half of the bins, is collected in a common channel or pipe header, and is then discharged back to the ocean by a pump located in a discharge pipeline. FLUPSYs are just like fish hatcheries, designed as nurseries to feed, grow and protect the shellfish from predators. Conventional FLUPSYs are docked to land and pumps are provided electricity through land connected electrical outlets. The solar powered FLUPSY uses solar PV and batteries instead. The bottom left hand photo in the Energy Blog shows the solar energy belt driven pump adjacent to the bins of shellfish in the foreground. This pump is drawing ocean water from below through the screened bottomed adjacent bins, collecting it in a header connected to the tops of the bins, and then discharging it back to the ocean. This creative idea allows the FLUPSY to be utilized in various offshore locations, not just tied to the shore, through use of solar energy with appropriately sized battery storage to power the pump. There are many benefits including helping to preserve or free up shoreline space for other uses and provides greater flexibility for aquaculturists. It allows the use of FLUPSYs in remote areas where conventional power is not available. And it apparently allows for the growing of a greater variety of shellfish that thrive in different ocean areas. Hope this answers your question. Thank you for your interest, Gerry Palano MDAR