Seatrec is the first company to develop a commercially viable technology that produces clean, renewable power from the ocean’s temperature differences to remove energy as the bottleneck for sustainable and economical underwater and offshore operations.
Founded in 2016 by ex-NASA scientist Yi Chao, the company’s technology is already powering autonomous profiling floats so ocean researchers can extend the life of their equipment, power more sensors, and collect data faster with lower costs and zero emissions and waste.
Seatrec’s patented technology uses Phase Change Materials (PCMs) to harness the ocean temperature differences between warmer water at the surface and colder water at the depths. Every time a float or glider surfaces, as part of its mission to transfer data back to shore through a network of satellites, PCMs are melted from solid to liquid, expand their volume (~10%), and create a hydraulic pressure that spins a motor and generates electricity.
Seatrec is expanding the use of PCMs to include liquid-to-gas phase change, as granted in its 2019 patent, to increase energy output. The additional energy opens the door to a broad range of commercial applications from underwater charging stations to offshore aquaculture and seafloor mining.
“We’ve proven the value of our clean, renewable energy harvesting technology with pilot sales to our beachhead market of research and defense,” explains Mr. Chao. “Now, we’re refining our minimum viable product with a goal to scale up commercial sales and expand the reach of our technology to power key applications in the commercial offshore markets that will drive the Blue Economy.”
The Blue Economy—sustainable, ocean-centric commerce—is expected to generate more than $3 trillion in global economic impact and support more than 40 million jobs around the world, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Aquaculture alone is projected to grow into a $274 billion per year market by 2025.
Seatrec demonstrated the commercial value of its technology by recently winning two $10,000 prizes under the Powering the Blue Economy: Ocean Observing Prize administered by the U.S. Department of Energy and NOAA. One of the prizes awarded during the DISCOVER Competition phase was split with Northrop Grumman for the joint Mission Unlimited UUV Station concept.
The company is also addressing the emerging need to power applications in the Arctic by further developing its thermal energy harvesting technology to convert the air-sea temperature difference into electricity.
For more information, visit: www.seatrec.com
This story was originally featured in ON&T Magazine’s September 2021 issue. Click here to read more.
