Undercurrents: December 2024
SeaGen's roundup of company news and perspective on all things climate.
Blythe Taylor, Chief of Staff
It’s that time of year isn’t it. The shops are playing Wham and Mariah on repeat, the fridge is heaving with the weight of pigs in blankets and sprouts, and you’re pretending to be shocked that Taylor Swift is yet again your top artist on Spotify wrapped (Just me then!).
It’s also a time of reflection, and as we discussed last month it’s hard to ignore the overwhelming sense of dread elicited by the latest climate change induced storms, cyclones, floods and fires.
But it can also be a time to celebrate the achievements and steps that have been made in the climate fight this year. Wind and solar grew to an all time high of 30% of the EU’s electricity in the first half of 2024. Electric vehicle uptake continued to increase with electric cars now outnumbering petrol and diesel vehicles in Norway. A low carbon electricity ‘superhighway’ was given the go ahead by OfGem in the UK, and we’ve seen a keen focus on rewilding and biodiversity protection with the Biodiversity Net Gain legislation that came into effect in Feb 2024.
We’re also celebrating achievement at SeaGen this year.
We’ve focused our efforts on gathering baseline data in order to track environmental change and measure impact of remediation projects. We need to rebuild our economy by moving away from fossil fuels and working with nature. We believe our lakes, rivers and oceans will play a key role in this future, and that the first step is to build a great understanding of what is currently happening in them.
Our Innovate UK funded work on Improving Observation Capabilities of Biodiversity in UK waters has seen the development of our baseline buoy and first AlgaRover prototype glider (see pics below). We’ve successfully gathered environmental data, camera footage and acoustic recordings across various UK sites using our solar powered robotics.
Our work here has led to a partnership with Oliver Wyman as part of their climate change leaders portfolio, and we demonstrated one of our buoys to their London office on the Regents Canal back in April.
Our next steps in June 2025 will take us to sunnier shores where our buoys (funded by the UK FCDO Evidence fund) will be deployed in Quintana Roo (Mexico) to track biodiversity and water quality changes before and during Sargassum influxes.
We’ve also made good progress with our automated seaweed cultivation rig. We’ve successfully completed a recent at sea test (see pics below) and we’re excited to begin seeding trials in the new year. Seaweed has the potential to be used for food, animal feed, fertiliser, bioplastics, biofuel, whilst also improving biodiversity and water health. We need automation and ingenuity to achieve this at scale.
2024 has also been a time of change for us as a company. We rebranded as SeaGen and launched our new website. We’ve also, just last month, moved engineering to Paignton in Devon. This is going to allow us much easier access to marine testing sites and ensure iteration and testing can continue at pace. We’ve hired an amazing team of experienced engineers who have previously worked together in Dyson’s R&D team. Learn more about them and their expertise in January’s Undercurrents, but it’s safe to say that their knowledge, enthusiasm and skills are already having a huge impact on our progress. We’re really looking forward to returning from a festive break ready to hit the ground running!
It’s been an amazing year and we’re immensely proud of the work that’s been done and the progress we’ve made. So before we down tools and settle in for a week of mulled wine and mince pies, we’d like to thank you for your engagement and support, and wish all readers of Undercurrents a wonderful festive season. See you on the flip side!
SeaGen
2024 in Review
