OPT’s Wave-Powered Tech Nears 15MWh of Renewable Energy Production

U.S.-based marine power, data, and services company Ocean Power Technologies (OPT) is approaching 15MWh of renewable energy production from its family of PowerBuoys, which primarily exploit wave energy to generate power.

The recent launch of its next generation PowerBuoy off the coast of New Jersey has materially accelerated average energy production by combining solar, wind, and wave energy production capabilities.

The energy generation numbers are based on deployments in the Atlantic, Pacific, Mediterranean, and North Sea.

These deployments came from a mix of renewable energy investments from government backed development programs and commercial leases and sales, for customers including Eni, EGP, Office of Naval Research and the DeepStar consortium inclusive of Chevron, CNOOC, Equinor, ExxonMobil, JX Nippon, Occidental, PetroBras, Shell, and Woodside.

According to OPT, it has demonstrated and delivered use cases as a proven solution for anti-submarine warfare, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, unmanned surface vehicle charging (USV), and environmental sensing.

"These numbers show that non-grid connected marine energy production is not just for the R&D community, but is a commercially available solution. Charging USVs, monitoring the marine environment, including during whale migration season, and supporting the defense and security industry is all possible.

“We have worked with customers in defense, offshore wind, oil and gas, and general ocean sciences and look forward to announcing more deployments,” said Philipp Stratmann, CEO and President of OPT.