The potential of small-scale turbines and microbial fuel cells to support persistent oceanographic sensors

This work explores the potential of ocean renewable energy technologies to support persistent oceanographic sensing. We consider two cases: (1) energy from currents in four straits in the Philippines, extracted by a small-scale turbine, and (2) energy from microbial metabolism in global sediments, extracted by microbial fuel cells. For each energy capture device, we apply performance models based on laboratory experiments to real-world oceanographic data to estimate harvestable power. To illustrate utility for the oceanographic community, we relate the harvestable power to its ability to support generic ocean sensing devices such as an acoustic modem sensor package and unmanned, underwater vehicles.