Makai Ocean Engineering

Makai Ocean Engineering, Inc. (Makai) is an American ocean-technology and engineering firm headquartered at Makai Research Pier in Waimānalo, Hawaiʻi. Founded in 1973, the company develops submarine-cable planning and installation software, designs large offshore pipelines, and conducts research in sea water air conditioning and ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC).^[1] Its flagship program MakaiLay is used by roughly 80 percent of the world's telecom-cable installation fleet,^[1] while the company's 105 kW OTEC demonstration plant (2015) was the first closed-cycle OTEC system to supply power to the U.S. electrical grid.^[2]

Makai was created in 1973 by Hawaiʻi-based ocean engineers to provide design support for offshore and subsea projects.^[1] During its first two decades the firm diversified into pipeline modeling, cabled-observatory hardware, and naval architecture for U.S. Department of Defense sponsors. By the 1990s Makai had released MakaiPlan (route engineering) and the finite-element cable-installation program MakaiLay.^[3]

In August 2015 Makai completed and grid-connected a 105 kW closed-cycle OTEC plant at the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority (NELHA) on the Island of Hawaiʻi—the largest operational OTEC facility in the world at the time.^[4]

The company marked its 50th anniversary in 2023 by signing a research agreement with Shell Technology's Marine Renewable Program to accelerate commercialization of offshore OTEC systems.^[5]

Makai's suite of cable-route and installation tools—MakaiPlan, MakaiPlan Pro and MakaiLay—are used by commercial telecom and power-cable owners as well as navies. In 2018 Prysmian Group commissioned MakaiLay on its cable-laying vessel Giulio Verne for the 720 km North Sea Link project.^[6] A 2020 Hydro International report documented the software's role in installing a 37 km power-cable across Scotland's Pentland Firth under severe tidal currents.^[7]

Makai has led U.S. OTEC research since the 1970s. Its OTEC Power System at NELHA produces up to 105 kW of continuous electricity and serves as a test bed for thin-foil titanium heat exchangers and control algorithms.^[8] The 2015 grid-connection ceremony was hailed by Hawaiʻi Governor David Ige as “a stepping stone to larger plants that will provide meaningful amounts of stable, clean power.”^[4]

In 2023 Makai and Shell began a joint study of floating-plant designs incorporating Makai's thin-foil heat exchanger, aiming to lower levelized cost of energy for utility-scale OTEC.^[5]

The U.S. Navy has been a longstanding client. In September 2024 Makai received a five-year, $45 million indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract under NAVFAC's Advanced Ocean Technology Program for R&D in ocean engineering and naval architecture.^[9]

Makai is also an industry partner on DARPA’s Rapid Resilient Reefs for Coastal Defense (R3D) project led by the University of Hawaiʻi, which is building living breakwaters to attenuate wave energy and foster coral growth near Marine Corps Base Hawaiʻi.^[10]

The company's headquarters and primary R&D facilities are at Makai Research Pier in Waimānalo, Oʻahu; it maintains project offices in Kailua-Kona (Hawaiʻi Island) and Ventura, California.^[11]

• Ocean thermal energy conversion
• Submarine communications cable
• Renewable energy in Hawaii

• Official website