C-Power set to launch SeaRAY AOPS for ocean trials in Hawaii

Business Developments & Projects

June 13, 2023, by Amir Garanovic

US-based marine energy company C-Power has completed the preliminary trials of its SeaRAY autonomous offshore power system (AOPS), that will soon be deployed for a six-month pilot project at the US Navy’s Wave Energy Test Site (WETS) off the Hawaii coast.

With support from Sea Engineering, C-Power tested the components of the AOPS — a SeaRAY wave power system and the Halo subsea battery storage system and gravity anchor from Verlume — in the water to ensure proper system deployment and operation.

The successful in-harbor test marks the final milestone before C-Power’s pilot project begins, the company informed.

In partnership with the US Department of Energy (DOE) and Navy, C-Power is launching the trials of an ocean energy device purpose built to provide power and real-time data communications to both mobile and static assets.

The SeaRAY AOPS being deployed at WETS is a charging station, data server, and cell tower enabling remote, autonomous operation of offshore assets.

The field test includes plans for the system to serve several assets including a Saab Sabertooth autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) operating in untethered mode, without a top side vessel.

From shore, operator Hibbard Inshore will remotely program and monitor the AUV. Equipped with the R2Sonic Sonic 2024 multibeam echosounder, the untethered Sabertooth will patrol the surrounding area to collect sonar imagery of the sea floor and underwater infrastructure.

After each survey mission, that imagery will be communicated back to shore and the Sabertooth recharged via the SeaRAY AOPS.

SeaRAY AOPS will also serve a BioSonics long-range subsea environmental monitoring system deployed for the entire six months, sending data real time to the cloud. The system will also serve as an intrusion detection system during the trial.

By supporting the Saab and BioSonics assets with power, data, and communications, the SeaRAY plans to demonstrate its central role enabling the future of data gathering and robotic systems in the ocean economy

Saab and BioSonics are partners in C-Power’s Partner Engagement and Co-Development (PEC) Program, which allows companies to participate in C-Power demonstrations in a number of ways.

C-Power is currently expanding membership in the PEC Program ahead of its upcoming demonstration of a next generation SeaRAY AOPS at the new PacWave South site off the Oregon coast.

The DOE-sponsored demonstration has a primary goal of simultaneously demonstrating applications critical to offshore operations.