ARPA-E Awards $2.1M for Open Ocean Farming of Kelp for Hydrocarbon Biofuels

Giant kelp (aka macro algae) are among the most prolific producers of biomass, growing in enormous underwater forests up and down the west coast of North America. For years kelp have been eyed as a source of biofuels. On November 24, 2015, one San Diego company received an award from the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) to give their unique cultivation technology a run at producing biocrude from seaweed.