Publisher: Florida Research Consortium
Date: November 2, 2011

Partnering to promote innovation and economic competitiveness worldwide, the U.S. Department of Energy and the University of Central Florida, announced the winning team of the first annual MegaWatt Ventures clean energy business plan competition.   Mud Power, led by University of South Florida students Marlyn Colon, Matthias Elliot, Robert Byrne and advisor Dr. Andres Cardenas, was the recipient of the $100K prize money.  Mud Power’s technology concept is to use microbial fuel cells (MFCs) for powering sub-surface instrumentation deployments. According to the distinguished judging panel, comprised of America’s top clean energy executives and leading investors across the country, Mud Power presented a strong business plan and technology that demonstrated clean energy practices with an upside potential for commercial success.

Based out of St. Petersburg, Florida, Mud Power is developing a system for long-term renewable power that could be used by the U.S. Military, Homeland Security, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and numerous other institutions. This technology will reduce ship costs from repeated deployments and allow enhanced monitoring of the world’s water bodies. The company plans to develop several models of MFCs to meet the demands of various buyers, offering customers huge savings and essentially limitless power for sub-surface marine instrumentation. Colon, Elliot, and Cardenas have completed a lab bench-top prototype, which was presented to a panel of judges at the competition.

“We are thrilled beyond belief to have won the MegaWatt Ventures’ competition. It has fueled our motivation to work even harder at accomplishing our goal of launching our product to the market.” commented Colon. “The funding received from MegaWatt Ventures will be used to help further develop and commercialize our Microbial Fuels Cells. This product will offer users and customers the potential of enormous savings and essentially limitless power for their sub-surface marine instrumentation.”  Read more here.