Canada’s CoeusAI is going to the Netherlands to help the Dutch government optimize its offshore renewable energy using AI.
The early-stage, Kitchener-Waterloo-based cleantech company says that it was the lone Canadian firm selected to participate in the North Sea Energy (NSE) program and the only one of its 30-plus partners asked to work across multiple NSE program streams—five, to be exact.
CoeusAI says the NSE program is “about as big as you can get” in the Netherlands.
In an exclusive interview with BetaKit, CoeusAI co-founder and CEO Vincent Marsland said he views the predictive AI startup’s first big contract as “an opportunity for us to showcase what we can do at a very big stage” and prove that Canadian tech “can bring really good value to the table and make some world impact.”
Marsland said CoeusAI will help the NSE program identify ideal sites for renewable energy projects and model potential economic, environmental, fishing, and tourism impacts using AI and machine learning.
The North Sea is responsible for a significant portion of Europe’s sea-based clean energy. Funded by the Dutch government, surrounding countries, the European Union, and private partners, the NSE program is a major research initiative designed to guide the Netherlands’ offshore energy decisions and help turn the North Sea into “Europe’s green power plant.”
“The Dutch are known for many things, but being a seafaring culture is one of them, and so having input into the project that helps them manage their offshore is … about as big as you can get here,” Marsland said.
Marsland, a repeat entrepreneur who previously spent time working with Toronto’s Kepler Communications, founded CoeusAI in 2024 alongside chief growth officer Jan Gunash, a former University of Waterloo researcher and Voltera employee.
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At the time, Marsland and Gunash—who are both fathers—were working together at Kitchener-Waterloo innovation hub Communitech. “We got to talking one day about the future and the world we’re leaving for our kids, and how could we … do something that would make things a little bit better for them,” Marsland said. “That was the seed that turned into CoeusAI.”
Offshore renewable energy systems targeted by the NSE program include wind farms, hydrogen production, and carbon capture and storage facilities. Deciding where to build them and how to integrate them can be a “pretty horrific process” for energy companies that can take months to years to complete, Marsland said.
CoeusAI has developed AI-powered renewable energy project planning and modelling software that Marsland claims covers “everything pre-shovel.” Using its own algorithms to analyze data from government, state, earth observation, and private sources, CoeusAI hopes to cut the decision-making timeline down dramatically. The Next AI graduate, which has also worked with the Vector Institute and Amii, has bootstrapped to date but is hoping to raise some external funding soon.
In Greek mythology, Coeus is the titan god of the north, and Northern Europe is where CoeusAI has focused its efforts to start, building a working model of the continent and surrounding seas that gives the startup more than 30 potential markets.
To support its work on the NSE program, CoeusAI has moved Marsland and the company’s headquarters to Rotterdam, Netherlands, while retaining its presence in Kitchener-Waterloo and Canada, where the majority of its 10-person team remains located.
With Europe far from alone in failing to hit its renewable energy goals, Gunash said CoeusAI also aims to demonstrate through the NSE program that its tech can translate to Canada, where the company also has some projects in the works.
Feature image courtesy CoeusAI.