​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. 

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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.