Ocean Power Technologies Inc. (OPT),
a wave energy technology company, announced the deployment for sea trials of a
unique autonomous wave energy device, marking an important milestone in the
expansion of the Company’s PowerBuoy product line.
This latest deployment is an
autonomous PowerBuoy designed and manufactured by OPT under
the U.S. Navy’s Littoral Expeditionary Autonomous PowerBuoy (LEAP) program for
coastal security and maritime surveillance. The LEAP PowerBuoy structure,
incorporating a unique power take-off and on-board energy storage system, is
smaller and more compact than the Company’s standard utility PowerBuoy. It
provides persistent, off-grid clean energy in remote ocean locations for a wide
variety of maritime security and monitoring applications.
Under the LEAP program, OPT has
integrated its autonomous PowerBuoy with radar network and communications
infrastructure from Rutgers University’s Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences
in partnership with CODAR Ocean Sensors. This PowerBuoy provides power at the lower
levels needed for the sophisticated vessel detection and tracking system,
enabling maritime surveillance in the near coast, harbors, and littoral zones
worldwide. Mikros Systems Corporation provided data and systems architecture
support for the PowerBuoy/radar network.
Currently, systems requiring remote
power at sea are often powered by diesel generators, which need frequent
maintenance and fuel replenishment. The LEAP PowerBuoy system was developed by
OPT to provide constant power in all wave conditions for the sea-based radar
and communications system. The Company’s proprietary power management
techniques and onboard energy storage capability are key innovations of the
system, and enable operation even in extended zero-wave sea conditions. In
addition, the system has been engineered to require no maintenance for three
years.
The LEAP system was deployed on
August 11, 2011 by a US Coast Guard vessel and will be ocean-tested
approximately 20 miles off the coast of New
Jersey. It will be integrated with the Rutgers
University-operated, land-based radar network that provides ocean current
mapping data for the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA) and US Coast Guard search and rescue operations. The ocean test of the
LEAP vessel detection system will therefore demonstrate dual-use capability of
the radar network and verify OPT’s technology as a persistent power source for
systems requiring remote power at sea.
Ocean Power
Technologies, www.oceanpowertechnologies.com
