Air-Sea Thermal Energy Harvesting on an Arctic Buoy

The goal of this effort is to develop the Arctic Power Station (APS), a rugged and clean energy source that will fundamentally alter the logistics and economics of Arctic observing system operations.  Engineers and scientists from Seatrec and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) will collaborate on a novel air-sea thermal energy harvesting system optimized to exploit the wintertime air-sea temperature differentials encountered in the maritime Arctic.  Here we detail a 48-month Phase II STTR effort to advance the APS concept from a laboratory testbed (TRL=4) to a field-deployed system prototype (TRL=7).  Deployment of the prototype will be coordinated with ongoing ONR-supported Arctic research programs including the Arctic Mobile Observing System (AMOS) Innovative Naval Prototype (INP) program.  WHOI and Seatrec will work together to design, fabricate, and deploy an Arctic-hardened buoy system carrying a fully-integrated energy harvesting payload.  When this concept is fully realized the resulting Arctic Power Station will provide continuous electrical power through polar winter to enhance the performance and longevity of autonomous observing system elements and support Navy efforts to monitor, predict, and operate in the Arctic maritime environment.