97th Edition

Tidal energy breakthroughs and seabed mapping

Hi everyone!

I encountered TONS of new ocean-climate startups I haven’t seen before in my search this week— keep an eye on the “companies” section in the next several weeks to see all that I found.

News

• A tidal turbine at the MeyGen site off Scotland’s Pentland Firth has now operated for over six years underwater without unplanned maintenance—demonstrating exceptional durability and signaling a breakthrough in commercial viability for tidal energy.

• Deep‑sea desalination pioneers—including Flocean, Waterise, and OceanWell—are deploying seabed‐mounted reverse osmosis systems that use natural pressure at depths of 400 + meters to reduce energy use by up to 40%, with the first large‐scale plant slated for operation in Norway in 2026.

• Maine is emerging as a national leader in seaweed farming, transforming its coastal economy by developing a burgeoning aquaculture sector that delivers environmental benefits, rural prosperity, and scalable marine innovation.

• The U.S. Department of Energy has renewed its partnership with Norway’s energy ministry to advance hydropower and marine energy research—strengthening joint efforts in areas like grid integration, environmental impacts, and digital monitoring to enhance clean energy deployment.

• Nice-based DeepTech startup Cosma has raised €2.5 million to commercialize its autonomous underwater drones and AI-enabled platform for large-scale benthic habitat mapping—aimed at generating high-resolution seabed imagery to support biodiversity monitoring and informed marine infrastructure deployment.

• Hourglass Climate has announced the public comment period for the Framework for Ecotoxicological Modeling of mCDR (FEMM). The document provides actionable guidance for quantifying ecotoxicological impacts from mCDR projects. The goal is to make measuring environmental impacts as important and rigorous as measuring carbon removal. The comment period open until July 31.

• DigyCorp and Sofar Ocean have announced a strategic partnership to integrate real-time ocean data from Sofar’s Spotter Platform into DigyCorp’s AI-powered Digital Twin and MRV systems, aiming to accelerate marine conservation, coral restoration, and climate resilience efforts.

Opportunities

• COMPASS Science Communication, with support from Carbon to Sea, is seeking nominations (or self-nominations) for its mCDR Communication Leaders program—a curated cohort of mid-career scientists and technical experts in marine carbon dioxide removal who will receive training in strategic, ethical engagement with policymakers, funders, media, and coastal communities to elevate public understanding of mCDR. Deadline to apply is July 13, 2025; nomination or self-nomination is open now.

• The Journal of Ocean Technology is looking for technical papers, essays, and short articles focused on how Indigenous researchers, technologists, scientists, groups, and communities around the globe use ocean technology for economic growth, resource management, community engagement, and mentoring the next generation of ocean leaders. Details can be found here. Submissions are due by July 25th.

• The StartBlue Accelerator at UC San Diego will be accepting applications until July 31st.

• The Neptune Awards from Ocean Exchange have a variety of deadlines for their $100,000 USD price depending on your region: the date has passed for Asia & Oceania, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, but the deadline is August 1 for the Americas.

• Applications are open for the Great Lakes Blue Tech Challenge. Apply here.

• Applications are open for call for projects issued to the scientific community throughout the European Economic Area (EEA) on the topic of Ocean and Coastal Ecosystems.

• The 'Our Shared Ocean' Mobility and Travel Grants 2025 program offers funding to support research conferences, training courses, and research visits, primarily for Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in partnership with Irish institutions. Remaining submission deadlines are June 13, September 5, and November 7, 2025.

• Propeller VC has opened applications for their Fall Ocean MBA program. Apply here. The program will be taking place October 21–24, 2025.

• Hatch Blue, an aquaculture and alternative seafood investor, is looking for startups to join their accelerator program, in which they will invest $75,000 in each successful applicant.

• Apply to Katapult’s Ocean Accelerator program that is designed to guide founders through complex entrepreneurial issues, add structure, and help raise a startup’s next round.

• Fair Carbon has launched a Blue Carbon Academy that aims to help with the fine-tuning of the design of a Blue Carbon project.

Events

• Tomorrow, at 5:30PM July 9th, the IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society (OES) San Diego Chapter will be hosting a joint meeting with TMA BlueTech and MTS. Register for the event here.

• The EAHN Thematic Conference on September 10-13th will be focusing on “The Built Ocean”. They have an open call for papers for the conference.

• Register for the Ocean Hackathon 2025 that will be taking place from October 17th-19th in Paris.

• The Ocean Exchange 2025 will be hosted in Fort Lauderdale, FL, from October 26-28.

• Ocean Floor Explore will be taking place from October 26-29, 2025 in Victoria, Canada.

Learning

• This research paper evaluates where and when to deploy ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE) on the U.S. Northeast Shelf by simulating how alkaline materials spread in the ocean, identifying Wilkinson Basin as the most promising site due to favorable summer conditions and optimal tracer behavior for effective carbon removal.

• Brad Ack of Ocean Visions argues that because Earth's systems—especially the Arctic—are shifting faster than our current conservation and climate strategies can handle, we urgently need to broaden our playbooks to include experimental climate and ocean interventions alongside traditional emissions reductions.

• Check out the Ocean Investment Protocol created by a partnership between UN Global Compact and UNEP FI.

Companies doing the work

• Actea transforms marine data for decision-making to manage marine climate risk.

• Algaepool transforms end-of-life shipping containers into modular, IoT-powered units for sustainable microalgae production.

• Marine Edge aims to improve efficiency and reduce fuel consumption for marine transport vessels.