Solar panels used in coral reef rehab

SAN JOSE, Calif., June 28 (UPI) -- U.S. firm Cypress Semiconductor Corp. has announced that it has donated six 90-watt solar panels to power MIT's First-Step Coral Reef Rehabilitation project.

The solar panels supplied by Cypress' subsidiary SunPower Corp. will go to power the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's First-Step Coral Reef Rehabilitation project in the Sagay Marine Reserve in the Philippines.

The solar panels are powering the coral reef rehabilitation process called BioRoc, which is capable of increasing coral growth rates by up to five times. Analysts say it also improves coral survival by more than 20 times during bleaching events where the water temperature is higher than normal.

"Sixty percent of animal proteins come from the reefs," said MIT First Step Coral Team Leader Gerardo Jose la O'. "The destruction of the reefs could lead to depletion of marine resources, which is particularly bad news to a region where many people depend on the sea for food.

"It is critically important that the energy sources we use to power our BioRock structures are both renewable and highly efficient. With SunPower solar panels, we were able to locate the energy source close to our structures, minimize challenges in project site selection and reduce system cost."

The First Step Coral project was funded with a grant from MIT after the team won the grand prize at the institution's 5th Ideas Competition in May 2006. The project was launched at the Sagay Marine Reserve in July 2006 and the SunPower panels were installed earlier this year.

The team has three working models at the Reserve, each powered by renewable energy sources including solar panels, wind turbines and tidal turbines. The Philippines was selected for the project since it has some of the most productive and most diverse coral reefs in the world. However, 95 percent of the reefs are in poor condition due to sediment from a long history of erosion from deforested islands and heavy fishing using destructive methods.