Semester Award Granted

Summer 2025

Submission Date

August 2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Yufei Tang

Abstract

Marine Renewable Energy (MRE) technologies, particularly Ocean Current Turbines (OCTs) and Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC), offer promising pathways for sustainable power generation in tropical and subtropical regions. This dissertation presents a comprehensive investigation into the resource potential, modeling, hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing, and application-driven evaluation of these systems for green hydrogen production and offshore aquaculture.

A novel HIL testbed was developed using a dynamometer and OPAL-RT real-time platform to emulate OCT dynamics under measured ocean current conditions. This setup enabled advanced testing of variable-speed and blade-pitch control strategies. Coupled with a PEM electrolyzer model, the system achieved instantaneous hydrogen production rates up to 0.64 g/s, with Gulf Stream-based extrapolations projecting up to 20 metric tons annually. Case studies further assessed electrolyzer performance under dynamic flow profiles and identified promising deployment sites through targeted resource mapping.

For OTEC, a high-resolution resource assessment using four years of HYCOM data in the Gulf of America and Caribbean revealed temperature differentials above 20 ◦C at depths as shallow as 500 m, favorable for nearshore and offshore deployment. A techno-economic analysis of hybrid OTEC–diesel–battery systems for coastal aquaculture showed that increasing OTEC capacity significantly reduces operational costs and energy losses while ensuring a stable power supply. Sensitivity analyses confirmed system viability under varying battery and diesel backup configurations, positioning OTEC as a critical enabler for resilient, sustainable fish farming operations within the emerging blue economy.

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