PTTEP, in collaboration with the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources, the National Science Technology Development Agency (NSTDA), Kasetsart University Sriracha Campus, and independent inventors, launched a Green Buoy for seawater quality monitoring project in 2020. The goals are to develop buoy which is powered by solar energy that can be used to monitor seawater quality to enhance marine research capabilities of ocean science including reduce dependency on expensive and difficult-to-maintain buoys from foreign technologies.

The prototype Green Buoy has been developed at low-cost and equipped with various sensors to measure the key seawater quality parameters such as seawater temperature, chlorophyll A, turbidity and conductivity, etc. The seawater quality data is automatically real-time transmitted to the cloud and displayed on PTTEP Ocean Data Platform.

Moreover, to enhance the Green Buoy efficiency, PTTEP is now working on the development of an automatic microplastic sensor to closely monitor the microplastic level. Additionally, the study is being conducted to improve electricity generation (solar power) and storage for the buoy so that more seawater quality parameters can be generated to support ocean science.