The global ocean economy is valued at around $2.5 trillion annually, and it touches industries including energy, security and defense, shipping, aquaculture, scientific research and more.
Yet, despite the wealth of activity, the ocean economy has been hampered from reaching its true growth potential. That's because this massive sector of the economy has lagged in the digital transformation that has enabled the Internet of Things and reshaped much of the global economy. Most offshore operations lack the electrification, digitization and autonomy that have driven trillions of dollars of growth in on-land sectors of the economy.
The reason is not because leaders in the ocean economy lack innovation or resist change. They lag their on-land counterparts because they face a massive barrier to unlocking their full potential:
The Ocean Is a Power Desert
Where there is no power, there is no data, and there can be no Internet of Ocean Things (IoOT). Offshore operations cannot deploy the digital, electric, autonomous technologies that will create tremendous new value, much as industrial IoTs have on land.
The Solution Is Already in the Water: Ocean Energy
Offshore operators have been working to solve their power and data challenge for years. Solutions today include using crewed vessels to ship out liquid fuels to power operations or haul batteries and electrified equipment to and from the shore to recharge and download data.
That model is costly, complex, and carbon intensive. Organizations can pay upwards of $1,500/kWh for energy on the open seas (compared to mere cents per kWh on land). They can't electrify and digitize operations at the scale needed to unlock mass innovation at that hefty price tag.
But there's a solution, and it's all around their operations. Wave-based ocean energy allows these organizations to have power on site, enabling the IoOT and digital transformation with continuous power and real-time data communications. It can deliver 50-70% energy cost savings to offshore operations, and even more for applications in which power must be transmitted over longer distances.
Ocean energy isn't just a solution. It is THE solution.
The power needs of offshore operators are too minor and remote to be served by offshore wind and solar lacks the energy density to serve the load. Oceans are the world's biggest and best battery, and smaller-scale ocean energy in the range of 10 Watts to 10 MWs is the perfect solution located at the right place and the right time for offshore operators.
See How Ocean Energy Solves the Ocean Economy's Biggest Problem
A $15B Total Addressable Market: Who's Positioned to Win It?
The market for power offshore is global, growing and untapped.
Wave and tidal energy technologies are expected to achieve 32% compound annual growth in the coming years to reach $2.28 billion by 2028, according to a Zion Market Research report. RenewableUK predicts the global market for marine energy has the potential to reach $93 billion by 2050.
But the most important number is the $15 billion immediately addressable annual market for 11 TWh/year of power industries in the ocean economy need today.
Today's leading ocean energy companies are developing new systems and services, and the competition for who will power the ocean economy's digital transformation is taking shape. The results are profound:
- Ocean energy companies are growing, delivering commercial revenue.
- More projects are hitting the water.
- Global, multibillion dollar leaders in the ocean economy are partnering with ocean energy companies to jockey for pole position.
Among these companies, C-Power is the first to commercialize technology that unlocks the digital, autonomous, electric future of the ocean economy via power and real-time, cloud-connected data.
Meet C-Power's SeaRAY and StingRAY Systems
C-Power's SeaRAYTM autonomous offshore power system (AOPS) has solved the big challenges historically preventing ocean energy from unlocking the future of the ocean economy. It delivers energy that is affordable, available and acceptable.
SeaRAY systems designed for lower-power needs are commercially available, and the StingRAY AOPS for larger-scale needs is coming. Together, the systems meet the requirements for the full range of offshore operations. These systems can serve the quickly growing markets for:
- Ocean data-gathering systems, a massive growth area touching everything from national defense to infrastructure security to scientific research
- Operating equipment for such growth industries as offshore oil and gas and carbon capture, utilization, and storage
- Autonomous and remotely operated vehicles, used widely across industries doing subsea work
Rapid growth in the use of non-crewed electric surface vessels and electric ships is also on the horizon, and C-Power systems will serve as a cost-effective charging network that extends vessel range and residency.
The commercially available SeaRAY AOPS has been deployed and demonstrated in the water in projects sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. Navy.
The Path Ahead for Ocean Economy-Ocean Energy Partnership
There's growing consensus that ocean energy is the obvious solution to unlock the ocean economy's vast untapped growth potential.
It's the reason C-Power has received millions in both federal funding and private capital to advance the SeaRAY and StingRAY technology. It's why world-leading offshore operators such as SLB OneSubsea and Subsea7 are working with C-Power to co-demonstrate their innovative new technologies with our ocean energy systems.
By solving the unserved low-power, data and communications needs of the ocean economy, C-Power is in a leadership position to capture the existing $15 billion addressable ocean energy market. Ultimately, leadership in that market will advance C-Power's ocean energy technology to compete with wind and solar energy in the much larger utility-scale electricity market.
The technology is ready. The market is ready. The company is ready. Join us as we power the ocean economy's digital transformation and unlock tremendous value.
