Solar Oysters offers an innovative new platform with on-site solar-powered automation for oyster aquaculture. The Solar Oysters Production System (SOPS) will expand grow capacity while decreasing the area required to grow oysters and labor demands.
THE IDEA
Oysters were an afterthought! The original plan was to produce only floating solar arrays. As a joint effort between Maritime Applied Physics Corporation (one of the two parent companies of Solar Oysters LLC) and a local power plant, these floating solar arrays were designed to offset thermal discharge entering the Chesapeake Bay by removing incident solar energy from the water. A form of ballast was needed to stabilize the floating technology and an opportunity was seen using oysters to provide this weight while effectively cleaning the Bay. THE CONCEPT BUILD In 2019, our concept received initial support from a partnership with the University of MD Center for Environmental Science (UMCES)’s Chesapeake Biological Laboratory as part of a Maryland Industrial Partnerships (MIPS) grant. A 8 ft x 6 ft prototype of the growout portion of the SOPS was tested at UMCES on Solomons Island, MD. This build's proof of concept led to the build of the 40 ft x 25 ft prototype platform growing oysters in Baltimore, MD's portion of the Potomac River. The prototype was launched in October 2021. |
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