The components of the SeaRAY autonomous offshore power system (AOPS) will soon head to Hawaii for the start of an application demonstration in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy, Navy and a host of commercial partners.
And while you might know what an AOPS is or the four ways the AOPS will transform the ocean economy, you might be wondering: What is the SeaRAY AOPS actually going to be demonstrating while floating in the Pacific?
To that question, C-Power is excited to announce the full list of mobile and static assets the SeaRAY will support during its application demonstration at the Navy’s Wave Energy Test Site in Hawaii.
No resident marine energy system providing power, data and wireless communication capabilities has ever supported the range of payloads the SeaRAY will in Hawaii. It will be an on-site power station, data server and internet connection supporting four assets — 3 static and 1 mobile — in total, demonstrating the use cases of resident subsea vehicles and data gathering systems receiving power and data services autonomously and remotely.
- A SAAB Sabertooth autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) will operate in untethered mode, without a top side vessel, for three weeks. The Sabertooth docking cassette connects to the AOPS’ seafloor energy storage and gravity anchor base unit via an umbilical. Missions will be downloaded from the cloud through the AOPS to the AUV, which will perform its mission, return to the dock, download its data for upload to the cloud, recharge and then repeat the cycle until the demonstration is complete.
- A seafloor data-gathering system from Fugro will deploy for four months, transmitting data real-time to the cloud.
- A Franatech methane emissions sensor that is integrated into the Fugro system.
- A BioSonics long-range subsea environmental monitoring system will be deployed for the entire six months, sending data real time to the cloud. The BioSonics echosounder will also serve as an intrusion detection system during the trial. Multiple assets will be supported with energy and data simultaneously.
With a 2 kW generating capacity and 55 kWh energy storage system, the SeaRAY delivers ample power for many of the types of activities that take place in the ocean economy. The Hawaii demonstration will be the first time an AUV has been supported by a renewable energy system without a topside vessel and the first time that both mobile and static assets have been supported simultaneously by a renewable energy system.
The SeaRAY AOPS is a moored configuration consisting of a surface ocean energy and data system; a single, combined mooring, data, communications and power cable from EOM Offshore; and a seafloor base unit that provides energy storage and communications management for seafloor asset operation.
C–Power has already begun commercial launch of the SeaRAY.