Searay Autonomous Offshore Power System AOPS: Results of Sea Trials and Payload Support Demonstration

Abstract

As the offshore energy sector looks to fully implement resident, autonomous, robotic, digital systems offshore, one missing piece of the puzzle is remote power generation. Further complicating these efforts are the owner/operators’ move towards net zero operations. The combination represents a significant dilemma for the offshore energy industry: if gensets and topside vessels are not appropriate or practical power sources for future resident systems, how will these needed cost and carbon-saving innovations come to market and get deployed in the field? The proposed paper will provide an overview of a new platform solution, an autonomous offshore power system (AOPS), that looks to complete the puzzle. A number of AOPS’ are under development world-wide. The paper will review the state-of-the-art, including the SeaRAY AOPS, which will undergo sea trials off the coast of Marine Corp Base Hawaii, on Oahu, Hawaii, USA. The sea trials are expected to last for six months. Note: Because of COVID-related delays, the sea trials originally planned for late 2020 will now start in 2Q21. The August presentation at OTC will include the latest information available on the sea trials and co-deployed payload testing. The SeaRAY AOPS is the result of a project co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Navy, and C·Power, to design, build, and test a novel AOPS technology. The SeaRAY AOPS provides kW-scale power generation, energy storage, and real-time data and communications capabilities for remote, offshore systems, including unmanned subsea and surface vehicles (e.g., AUVs, ROVs, USVs), sensor payloads (e.g., environmental monitoring or methane emissions) and operating equipment (e.g., emergency power for failed/failing umbilical, field modernization, or redundant power for BOP systems). Satisfying the need for cleaner operations, the SeaRAY and other AOPS devices capture and convert ocean energy into electricity to charge the energy storage system. The payloads, in turn, receive their power from the intermediate energy storage system, allowing campaign-based or extended residency. The paper will review the initial results from the planning, permitting, deployment, operation, and maintenance of the SeaRAY AOPS and the co-deployed sensor and vehicle payloads, which include a seafloor acoustical environmental monitoring system and a hybrid AUV. Novel/Additive Information: The market impact of AOPS’ for the offshore energy industry can be significant, as the class of systems is intended to enable reductions in operational costs, carbon emissions, and complexity, while enabling a fuller implementation of autonomous and semi-autonomous resident systems. The paper will outline these features and benefits for the offshore energy industry, along with the results to-date of the novel SeaRAY AOPS’ sea trials.