C-Power will begin six-month sea trials in partnership with the US Department of Energy (DOE) and US Navy to test and validate the technical and economic capabilities of its SeaRAY autonomous offshore power system (AOPS).
The SeaRAY AOPS provides in-situ power, energy storage, and real-time data and communications support that will advance the marine economy toward a future of autonomous, connected and resident technologies.
It is designed to support unmanned offshore activities, including subsea vehicles, sensor packages, and operating equipment. When deployed, the SeaRAY AOPS lowers costs and carbon emissions, reduces operational complexity, and increases safety.
The sea trials will begin later this year at the Navy’s Wave Energy Testing Site (WETS), located off Marine Corps Base Hawaii on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. The SeaRAY AOPS at WETS is a moored configuration consisting of a surface wave energy converter; a single, combined mooring, data, communications and power cable; and a seafloor base unit that provides 100 kWh of energy storage for payload operation.
The SeaRAY AOPS is scalable to capacities from tens of watts to tens of kilowatts. The AOPS is designed to survive the expected conditions of a 100-year storm off the Oregon coast. It will be deployed at WETS with a small, lightly-crewed vessel.
Following successful completion of the WETS sea trials, C–Power expects to complete commercial launch of the SeaRAY in 2021.
The ocean is a power desert. Providing reliable power and real-time data communications through an AOPS is critical to unlock the full potential of the marine economy
stated Reenst Lesemann, CEO of C–Power.
