Effective management and optimization of large-scale offshore energy infrastructures, such as wind farms, tidal energy installations, and oil & gas platforms, critically depend on robust and continuous environmental monitoring. Incumbent monitoring solutions powered by solar panels or miniature wind turbines often face challenges in reliability, cost, and operational complexity in offshore environments. Ocean Motion Technologies (OMT) addresses these challenges by deploying small-scale wave energy converters (WECs) specifically designed, as add-on systems to commercially available data buoys, to power oceanographic sensors and data collection platforms. This presentation showcases insights from a recent DOE-funded deployment conducted in Seattle, Washington, demonstrating the viability and effective of OMT’s innovative WEC technology.
We will discuss deployment outcomes and highlight key performance metrics and lessons learned. By leveraging small-scale wave energy harvesting, OMT’s solution enables continuous, near real-time environmental monitoring which is essential for predictive maintenance, operational safety, and compliance with regulatory standards.
This session illustrates the broader implications of using small-scale marine energy to enhance the resilience and sustainability of offshore energy operations, effectively bridging the gap between offshore energy research and practical applications in maritime industries.
