Arezoo Hasankhani, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Electrical and Computer Engineering
College of Engineering and Physical Sciences
University of New Hampshire
Abstract
Ocean energy systems offer a promising pathway to increase electricity generation and enhance energy security by harnessing the power of waves and marine currents. Among these technologies, Wave Energy Converters (WECs) are especially well suited to support a range of applications within the blue economy—defined as the use of ocean resources to promote economic development, improve livelihoods, and support ocean-related industries while maintaining environmental integrity. Relevant applications include offshore aquaculture farms, ocean monitoring systems, and autonomous underwater vehicle charging stations. Despite this potential, the advancement of ocean energy technologies has been limited by a combination of technical complexity and economic barriers. This talk presents recent progress in design, control, optimization, and control co-design (CCD), demonstrating how these methods can improve energy capture efficiency and enable new use cases for ocean energy technologies. The presentation will highlight recent results in the control and CCD of marine current turbines and WECs. This talk will also explore the use of WECs for powering offshore aquaculture systems. The discussion will include a detailed analysis of the power requirements for such systems, followed by the conceptual design and optimization of a wave-powered aquaculture platform. Additionally, marine spatial planning considerations for deploying these systems in the Northeast U.S. will be addressed, taking into account technical constraints, operational requirements, and environmental factors.
Please note: The beautiful illustration used on the flyer was created by Stephanie King of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
Bio
Prof. Arezoo Hasankhani is currently an assistant professor at University of New Hampshire leading Energy Control and Optimization (ECO) Lab. Her research interests include ocean energy systems, control co-design, control, and optimization to enhance the use of ocean and blue economy. Prior to joining UNH, she was a postdoctoral researcher at Cornell University working on the design and optimization of wave-powered aquaculture farms. She received her Ph.D. from Florida Atlantic University in Electrical Engineering in 2022 focusing on the design, path planning, and control co-design of ocean current turbines. She is a recipient of the 2021 Graduate Fellowship for Academic Excellence and the 2020 Dr. Steven G. Schock Scholarship.
