Four B.C.-based companies are the successful participants of an Innovation Challenge to be delivered through Innovate BC’s Integrated Marketplace and enabled by the BC Marine Energy and Decarbonization Hub, a joint initiative of SIPP-initiative COAST and the University of Victoria.
This Innovation Challenge is designed to help address the Canadian Coast Guard’s goal to decarbonize land-based operations in remote coastal areas of British Columbia. It targets new innovations that can displace diesel at light stations, utilizing renewable energy sources (including marine renewables), as well as advanced energy management and storage solutions.
The systems must be rapidly deployable, modular, and scalable to meet the Coast Guard’s operational constraints at remote, often hard-to-access sites.
Ascent Systems Technologies, Cleohydron Innovation Inc, Mostar Labs Inc and Voltai Inc will receive funding of 50% of eligible project costs, up to $100,000, as well as access to office and lab space at the Marine Technology Centre in North Saanich, and direct access to the Canadian Coast Guard technical teams and Accelerating Community Energy Transformation (ACET) researchers to support their development goals.
“One of the reasons COAST exists is to help entrepreneurs turn bold ideas into real solutions, and the companies selected for this Innovation Challenge are doing exactly that,” says COAST’s Executive Director Jason Goldsworthy. “They are developing innovations to support practical, integrated energy systems that can work in some of the most challenging marine environments, leading not only to solutions to current problems, but also pathways to strengthen Canadian sovereign capabilities.
By engaging innovators to design solutions for industry defined problems, we’re not only accelerating the transition to cleaner energy and improved operational capabilities, we are also building expertise, jobs and supply chains that will benefit British Columbians and Canadians for years to come.”
Ascent Systems Technologies is adapting its Autonomous Environment Monitoring and Surveillance (AEMS) platform into AEMS-COAST, a rugged, modular clean-energy unit. The system integrates renewable generation, storage, smart power management and communications to operate autonomously. The company will reconfigure and enhance the system for long-term deployment in harsh coastal and marine environments.
Cleohydron Innovation Inc is developing “Hydrogen at the Edge,” a clean hydrogen production system tailored to remote coastal facilities that currently rely on diesel. It will advance the technology from lab-validated components to an integrated, deployment-ready prototype that can be safely and reliably operated under site-relevant conditions.
Mostar Labs Inc’s Lighthouse LilyPad is a modular floating renewable energy platform designed to provide reliable clean power to remote coastal operations and displace diesel use. The company will demonstrate consistent renewable generation, high system availability, stable three-phase power and robust storm performance, while establishing repeatable processes for deployment, maintenance, and decommissioning.
Voltai Inc‘s WaveNexus project is advancing a modular wave-energy system intended as a rapidly deployable microgrid component for remote coastal infrastructure. Through its participation in the Challenge, the company will integrate and test the system in a relevant near-shore environment to generate credible performance and emissions-reduction data and show how wave energy can operate as part of a hybrid microgrid.
Strong results from this Challenge will help inform future procurement specifications and could position innovations for consideration through federal procurement processes, subject to operational needs and performance.
“The conflict in the Middle East continues to drive up fuel prices and everyday costs for everyone, and it’s never been more important to help our coastal communities transition to cleaner energy,” says Ravi Kahlon, B.C.’s Minister of Jobs and Economic Growth in a Ministry media release. “Through this challenge, we’re tapping into B.C.’s innovation and technology sector and cutting-edge solutions developed right here at home. Guided by Look West, we are creating new opportunities for local businesses, while building a cleaner economy that can stand on its own two feet.”
To be eligible for this Innovation Challenge, companies had to be registered, licensed or certified to do business in B.C., with at least two years of operating history and ready to run a test or pilot.
Derek Moss, Assistant Commissioner Western Region, Canadian Coast Guard, says “The Canadian Coast Guard is committed to reducing our environmental impact and finding renewable energy solutions. We are pleased to partner on this Innovation Challenge and look forward to testing and validating potential solutions against real operational challenges here on the West Coast.”
COAST is an initiative of the South Island Prosperity Partnership. “Congratulations to Ascent Systems Technologies, Cleohydron, Mostar Labs and Voltai,” says SIPP CEO Aaron Stone. “These are exactly the kinds of innovators COAST was built to support. By connecting homegrown entrepreneurs with real-world challenges like decarbonizing remote coastal operations, we’re building the foundation of a thriving ocean economy right here in Pacific Canada, centered in Greater Victoria. This is what it looks like when bold ideas meet real opportunity.”
