Page 29: of Marine Technology Magazine (March 2022)

T , WO OUTFITS ONE IN

G ERMANY AND ONE IN

THE ARE CHASING A U.S.,

GOAL OF SUPPLYING LONG -

TERM SUBSEA POWER IN

REMOTE LOCATIONS VIA ,

FUEL CELLS TO USERS ,

INCLUDING OCEANOGRAPHIC

OBSERVATORIES TO

UNDERWATER VEHICLES .

E M LAINE ASLIN TAKES A

LOOK. ong term operation of subsea ter vehicles (AUVs) or to provide power long-term sea? oor observatory, where it equipment or instruments in to long-term remote ocean observatories. could also be required to power robot- remote locations poses some- Some are trialling the use of wave en- ics. The other is Teledyne’s Subsea Su-

Lthing of a challenge. While bat- ergy or ocean current converters. Nuclear percharger, which was recently put to the tery technology has improved vastly, it’s options have also been assessed. Howev- test over in Norway. still not suf? cient for long term deploy- er, two promising projects which propose ments. fuel cells as a solution to this challenge Powering up ocean observation

For a decade or so, a number of projects have recently passed signi? cant mile- “The need for long-term observation have been working on ways to provide stones. systems on the sea? oor has risen con- sea? oor based remote power systems. One is a research project led by Ger- siderably and will continue to move into

This could be to power subsea production many’s GEOMAR Helmholtz Center focus in the future”, says project manager systems, resident remotely operated ve- for Ocean Research Kiel, which recently Dr. Sascha Flögel from GEOMAR. This hicles (ROVs) or autonomous underwa- tested fuel cell technology for use on a could be to track environmental and cli- www.marinetechnologynews.com 29

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