Marine Energy holds vast potential to enhance ocean sensing, but open ocean prototype testing has been limited. In 2023-2024, a multi-institutional team of researchers deployed the Turbine Lander, a compact cross-flow tidal turbine in Sequim Bay, Washington. This was the first prolonged deployment and testing of a tidal turbine on the seafloor in the Pacific Northwest.
After publishing a summary of the design and lessons learned, the 2nd generation system was fabricated and tested in 2025, yielding notable improvements in performance. In this talk, Dr. Chris Bassett, a lead engineer on this project, shares his perspective on transitioning technology from laboratory to field. He'll present lessons learned, and how these informed the 2nd generation design.
Speaker:
Dr. Christopher Bassett has over a decade of experience leading research in ocean acoustics, engineering and marine energy. He is the CoDirector of the Pacific Marine Energy Center, and a Reseach Scientist at University of Washington's Applied Physics Laboratory-UW.