Undercurrents: February 2025
SeaGen's roundup of company news and perspective on all things climate.
Blythe Taylor, Chief of Staff
Spring is on the horizon. Longer, warmer (we hope!) days are just around the corner, and the brown, grey landscapes of winter will soon give way to the green abundance of spring. Sunlight and warmer waters also spark new growth for many seaweeds in the temperate climates of Europe and North America. So with the anticipation of imminent growth and new beginnings, what better time to reveal SeaGen’s latest work on our seaweed cultivation rig and monitoring buoys.
SeaGen’s Automated Cultivation rig - The Algavator is deployed
The development of the AlgaVator has formed part of an Innovate UK project examining the potential for an automated macroalgal protein biomass cultivation system. The aim of the project is to understand the role seaweed can play in providing a sustainable alternative protein. We know that seaweeds have tremendous potential for use in food, animal feed, fertiliser, bioplastics, biofuel and more. While growing, they absorb carbon, potentially reducing water acidity, capture excess nutrients, and create valuable habitats in the process.
However, in order for seaweeds to become a viable base material, the cost of growing these amazing organisms needs to dramatically reduce. The only way to do this, and increase the safety of at-sea farming, is for robotics and automation to play a key role. Our innovative hydrostatic, seaweed cultivation rig has automation at its heart, and has been designed to respond to the marine environment to optimise crop growth.
With successful at-sea tests in January, the AlgaVator has now been deployed near our new home in the South West. With a central hub that controls and monitors depth, hydrostatic pressure, and four cameras; we are building up data for further optimisation of our power and data transmission systems. We’re so excited to see how the rig responds in its new home, and look forward to our first harvest later in the spring! The rig will remain at sea for another two months before we take it in for the next phase of development and upgrade. Stay tuned for further updates!
Get ready for the buoys on tour!
Progress doesn’t stop there! Next month will see the launch of our monitoring ‘buoys on tour’. These prototype Baseline Buoy are static environmental monitoring arrays that will be travelling around the country visiting some amazing conservation and restoration efforts. The short term deployments will allow projects to see the water and wildlife data that a Baseline Buoy can capture at their site, delivered to SeaGen’s Baseline app. Above and below surface cameras, alongside a hydrophone will allow us to record local biodiversity, while further environmental sensors including Dissolved Oxygen, temperature, wave data, and salinity can be added for bespoke use cases.
This live data is displayed in an impactful and digestible format in the Baseline app, ready for easy dissemination among interested stakeholders and local communities. For more information on the projects we’re working with, and the tour progress take a look here.
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We were delighted to be featured in Regenescape, a platform that explores how technology can build a better future for the environment and society. Read more about the imagined future of our ocean scapes with SeaGen’s AlgaRays as AI powered marine guardians.