A collaboration between researchers at the Hawai’i Natural Energy Institute (HNEI) in the University of Hawai’i (UH) at Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) and the National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR) enabled this milestone in marine energy device deployment and testing.
“Projects like SURF-WEC work because different teams bring different expertise,” said Pat Cross, Program Manager for Marine Energy at HNEI. “NLR led much of the power take-off engineering, while we helped ensure a robust anchoring and deployment approach and supported testing here in Hawai’i. We learn from each other—and that collaboration is what makes projects like this successful.”
Decades of theoretical and modeling research have advanced the field of marine energy. But open-water deployment and testing of marine energy devices have been limited, leading to gaps in data and knowledge needed for commercialization. The deployment of SURF-WEC can help close these gaps: The device is expected to generate critical data the industry can build on.
“The marine energy community is so data-starved,” said Bri Friedman, a NLR researcher on the project. “There’s just so few deployments that have occurred. And on top of that, a lot of those deployments don’t have accessible or shared data.”
To help fill that void, the researchers combined their expertise in wave modeling, controls, and ocean deployment to do something different: deploy a low-barrier, small-scale wave energy converter and provide open access to its design, data, and lessons learned.
A Techno-Athlete, Born to Adapt
Born from earlier wave energy modeling work at NLR and an existing research flap developed by HNEI, the SURF-WEC turns wave motion into electricity.
A buoyant flap anchored just offshore, roughly the size of a big-screen TV, oscillates back and forth with each passing wave—like a door swinging on its hinges. The movement of the flap from ocean waves drives a hydraulic system, which pumps fluid through a sealed system, building pressure over time. When a set pressure is reached, it is used to spin a motor connected to a generator, which produces electricity.
What makes SURF-WEC unique is its ability to adapt. Researchers can remotely adjust how the system responds to waves, testing both passive and active modes to better understand how to capture energy more efficiently.
Out of the Lab, Into the Ocean
With NLR and UH Mānoa researchers coordinating between the Makai Pier, the UH Mānoa lab, and the water, the team installed the rest of the system just offshore, anchoring it to the seabed and connecting it back to the pier.
“Just a small crew and a forklift—that’s all it took to get everything in the water,” said Kimball Millikan, a marine energy research engineer in HNEI who led the deployment from land to sea.
Since the system was deployed months ago, insights are beginning to emerge. The team plans to keep SURF-WEC in the water for up to a year—collecting data to support future marine energy research and technology development.
Anyone can follow along in real time through the system’s live data feed. As SURF-WEC continues operating offshore, researchers at NLR are gathering the information needed to publish a final report, which will be publicly available.
This work was funded by the Department of Energy’s Hydropower and Hydrokinetic Office.
This story was originally published here: https://www.soest.hawaii.edu/soestwp/announce/news/surf-wec-deployment-2026/
