APL WEC-UUV System (TigerRay and BlueROV2)

This is an R&D project sponsored by the U.S. Navy to investigate at-sea charging of unmanned underwater vehicles. The WEC-UUV system combines a wave energy converter (TigerRAY, a unit of SeaRay by C-Power) with an Uncrewed Underwater Vehicle (UUV, BlueROV2 by BlueRobotics). The UUV charges from the WEC while inside a docking station that is integrated with the subsurface heave plate. When an operator is within range of the WEC, the UUV can be operated via Wi-Fi.
Design and fabrication of the WEC-UUV began in late 2019. In fall 2021, the heave plate docking station was tested with the BlueROV2. TigerRAY was delivered to APL-UW in early January 2022 and put through initial dynamometer testing before the first round of drifting field tests in winter 2022. System electronics were upgraded to improve performance in summer 2022, and a second round of dynamometer testing was conducted in late 2022. Additional drifting field tests were conducted in February 2023 and substantial improvements to power generation were verified. The system was deployed for a 2 month period between January and March 2024 in Lake Washington outside of Seattle.

www.seattletimes.com

Project Manager

UW Applied Physics Laboratory

Additional Information

Project Website

Project Status Is the project actively being planned or is deployed in the water (active)? Or was the project canceled or completed (inactive)?

Inactive

Project Life Cycle Project Progress through life cycle:<ul> <li>Planned: Project has identified a deployment location and is preparing for deployment</li> <li>Operational: Project is deployed in the water and is active</li> <li>Completed: Project was previously deployed in the water</li> <li>Decommissioned: Installation has been fully removed in accordance with regulations</li> <li>Canceled: Project was canceled before being deployed in the water</li></ul>

Decommissioned

Max Rated Power Capacity The maximum amount of electricity that can be produced by project, based on available resources and device nameplate capacity.

0.002 MW

Operational Duration

January 2024 - March 2024

Project Duration

2019 - 2024

Energy Resource

Wave

Project Scale

Full-scale

Number of Devices

1

Grid Connectivity

Not Grid Connected

Waterbody

Lake Washington, Washington

Site Characteristics Geographic characterization for the project location:<ul> <li>Open Ocean: Main body of ocean, not enclosed or partially enclosed by land</li> <li>Coastal: Open water near the coast, spanning between land and shelf boundary</li> <li>Enclosed Bay: water that is partially surrounded by land, with a mouth open to larger water</li> <li>Constricted Channel: A channel where water flows quickly due to narrowing by the land</li> <li>River: Water flowing from land towards a larger body of water</li></ul>

Enclosed Bay

Country

United States

Last Modified

6 June 2025

This Project has the following MRE Devices

Citation Formats

“APL WEC-UUV System (TigerRay and BlueROV2).” Marine Energy Projects Database: Projects, PRIMRE, United States Department of Energy, https:https://openei.org/wiki/PRIMRE/Databases/Projects_Database/Projects/APL_WEC-UUV_System_(TigerRay_and_BlueROV2). Accessed <day> <monthRoman> <year>.

Marine Energy Projects Database: Projects. <year>. "APL WEC-UUV System (TigerRay and BlueROV2)." Accessed <monthRoman> <day>, <year>. https:https://openei.org/wiki/PRIMRE/Databases/Projects_Database/Projects/APL_WEC-UUV_System_(TigerRay_and_BlueROV2).

PRIMRE/Databases/Projects Database/Projects/APL WEC-UUV System (TigerRay and BlueROV2)

APL WEC-UUV System (TigerRay and BlueROV2)

This Project has the following MRE Devices

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