Development of Scalable Coastal and Offshore Macroalgal Farming
This project is to determine the feasibility of using offshore kelp mariculture to provide biomass for fuels.
The goals are to develop replicable scale model farms in Alaska that will demonstrate technologies capable of the cost-effective production of sugar kelp (Saccharina latissima) while integrating the entire farming process including; simplified farm installation, seed production, mechanized outplanting and harvest, and reseeding.
Principal Investigator / Project Partners
- Michael Stekoll, University of Alaska Fairbanks
- University of Connecticut
- Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
- Marine Biological Laboratory
- Cliff Goudey & Associates
- Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation
- GreenWave
- Blue Evolution
Project Term: 2018-2023 (still ongoing)
Funding: $3,500,000, US Department of Energy, Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-e)