SubSeaSail Awarded a Dept. of Energy SBIR Phase 1 Grant
SubSeaSail, LLC (SSS) was awarded a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase 1 grant from the Department of Energy (DoE) Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO). It was one of 12 companies selected from nine different states, based on their proposals and ability to impact the future of marine energy.
The SubSeaSail one-year grant is for $206,500 which will be used to create a low-cost, user-friendly environmental monitoring vessel for offshore marine energy sites. The vessel will be designed to work on the surface and continue to monitor and measure when submerged down to 30 meters. The vessel will be based on the company’s patented semi-submersible, monohull design and incorporate a unique SSS developed Passive Acoustic Array to monitor underwater soundscapes and 3rd party magnetometers to measure electro-magnetic fields generated by in-water hydrokinetic installations. The ability to autonomously provide near and far field monitoring from a 100% renewable energy vessel that can sail to locations, maintain position, submerge for periods of time to listen/measure/monitor, return to the surface to monitor while re-charging batteries, transmit data, and remain at sea for extended periods for a fraction of the cost of other systems will be unique. This configuration will also have a variety of additional applications across academia, government, military and the private sector.