SEWEC

The SEWEC team is a multi-disciplinary group assembled to compete in the Wave Energy Prize competition as a first step in deploying the SEWEC device in American oceans. All engineers, they contribute specialist know how in the following areas: (i) Byron Barnes - aerodynamics/fluid dynamics, (ii) Carol Bennett – media relations and funding co-ordination, (iii) Tom Benson – manufacturing wave energy concepts and tank testing, (iv) Nicholas Gray and Casey Birmingham – electrical and control, (v) Sean Lavelle – renewable energy primarily from waves. The SEWEC device is based on the technical knowledge, engineering and patented designs developed by Sea Energies Ltd.

WEC Device Type
Floating Oscillating Water column WEC with internal turbine generator.

Team Quote
“Let’s pacify the Pacific”

Team Bios
Nick Wynn has worked as a mechanical engineer on gas turbines and aviation test facilities, subsequently as a chemical engineer in the UK, Switzerland, Canada, Germany and recently in California as COO of Membrane Technology & Research Inc. Nick is a graduate mechanical engineer from the University of Surrey, UK, with an MS in chemical engineering from MIT. He founded the technology development company IProTech in 2015 and lives with his wife Carol Bennett in Redwood City, CA, where they run in the nearby hills and sail a Folkboat on San Francisco Bay.

Byron Barnes is a commercial pilot with an airline transport category rating and has been active in aviation and aeronautics for his entire adult life. He started flying airplanes at the age of 14 and building and flying model aircraft and rockets. Byron has amassed more than 10,000 hours of flight time and during his time as a professional pilot he has continued with his passion for engineering and aeronautics by remaining active in designing and building flying model aircraft. Byron lives in Benicia, California with his wife and two children, and his hobbies include sailing and woodworking.

Carol Bennett is currently employed as business development director with a major information and media service provider located in Silicon Valley. She has over 30 years of international business experience including M&A, and business development primarily in the areas of renewable energy, electronics & technology as well as chemicals. As senior vice president at Sulzer she was responsible for strategic planning and M&A activity of the corporation and led a team to complete over 50 transactions including acquisitions, divestitures, management buy-out and joint ventures. Carol holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from N.C. State University and an M.B.A. from Thunderbird.

Tom Benson is a Mechanical Engineering graduate of the University of Surrey, UK and founder of Benson Engineering Ltd. In Killarney, a founding member of the Irish Wave Energy Developers Association (IWEDA). Benson Engineering has developed its innovative wave pump through the early TRL gates, successfully tank testing the concept at 1/50th scale and 1/15th scale. Extensive experience has been gained in the wave energy field in numerical modelling, model building and tank testing. A ¼ scale model will be tested in the ¼ scale Smart Bay test site in the sea in Galway Bay Ireland in Q4 2015 and 2016. This device is fixed to the sea bed and driven by a point absorber buoy.

Sean Lavelle is the owner of Sea Energies Ltd and inventor of the SEWEC device. Sean is a mechanical engineering graduate of the University of Limerick and Trinity College, Dublin and owns and operates a fleet of class leading purpose built vessels to undertake oceanographic and geophysical surveys, dive support, shore logistics support, navigation buoy, beacon and rapid response. Sean has been developing the SEWEC device for the past eight years and has tested the device in a number of wave energy basins in Ireland. The SEWEC15 device has also successfully been deployed offshore in Blacksod Bay, Co. Mayo Ireland.

All team members live on the west coast of a continent and see serious waves much of the time – five are based in California and two in Ireland.

DISCLAIMER: The team information provided on this page is provided solely by SEWEC. The Wave Energy Prize is not responsible for its accuracy, legality, decency of material or intellectual-property compliance.