Mysterious White Buoy in Port Susan Bay

A reader shared a couple of pictures, wondering what the mysterious object was floating in Port Susan Bay. Here’s what they saw:

As you can see, a large white buoy-looking object is being pulled around in the water.

The white buoy is actually a renewable energy capture buoy built by Panthalassa, a renewable energy startup based out of Portland, Oregon but operating in both Washington and Oregon.

The bulbous end is the part that shows above water when it isn’t being towed around.

Here is Panthalassa’s company statement:

We are a renewable energy and ocean technology company committed to rapidly develping and deploying technologies that will ensure a sustainable future for Earth by unlocking the vast energy potential of its oceans.

As you can see in the images on the right, the renewable energy buoy is even larger than it appears in the water pictures.

This particular buoy is named “Ocean-2.” It is intended to be deployed far from shore. They ran a one day test in Everett late January. we will likely see more buoys deployed out of Everett over time as they run their pilot.

Panthalassa’s website is light on details, which probably means it is a stealth startup.

They call themselves a public benefit corporation and they have an impressive team of “builders” coming from rocket companies, aerospace giants, research universities, naval architecture firms, software companies, metal fabricators, and the armed forces.

The company raised $50 million in a Series A round on 1/24/2022. 69 different patents under the name Lone Gull Holdings, Ltd. have already been filed by two of the co-founders: Brian Lee Moffat and Garth Alexander Sheldon-Coulson.