$1.5m federal award to help OPT scale up wave power technology

April 14, 2010

One of OPT's 40-kilowatt PB40 Powerbuoy devices being tested in Hawaii towards the end of 2009. Devices are now being scaled up to 150kW, then 500kW.

New Jersey company Ocean Power Technologies, Inc., has won $1.5 million from the US Department of Energy to help scale up its wave power technology.

The firm based in Pennington, NJ, said yesterday that the funds would help take its PowerBuoy units from their current output level of 150kW up to 500kW.

As well as upping the scale of the floating wave power devices, the development will focus on increasing the power extraction efficiency.

The PowerBuoy is a floating buoy that is mounted on a central column anchored to the sea bed. As the waves make the buoy bob up and down on the column, it drives a turbine system to generate power.

The company said it would be taking a “design for manufacture” approach to the development of its larger 500kW device, so that it is built with commercial production in mind, achieving costs more competitive fossil fuel-based energy.

Commenting on the award, OPT CEO Charles F. Dunleavy said: “OPT’s program of work under this award is in accord with the Department of Energy’s objectives to increase the use of domestic marine resources for electric power generation and to enhance energy security, while improving the environment.

“OPT and its partners share these goals and are committed to dealing constructively with the challenges of climate change. We appreciate the DoE’s confidence in our technical capabilities to commercialize wave power further.”

Development

Ocean Power Technologies has been developing a 40-kilowatt version of its PowerBuoy device, the PB40, with deployments in Spanish waters and in Hawaii, where it is working with the US Navy on the technology.

The company is due to test out its 150-kilowatt PB150 at sites including the European Marine Energy Center in the Orkney Isles off the north coast of Scotland, and is developing a wave park of 10 PB150 devices off the coast of Oregon at Reedsport.

The $1.5 million award was issued as part of a competitive process, and followed on from the $2 million awarded by the DOE back in 2008, which helped the company prepare its PB150 PowerBuoy being deployed as part of OPT’s project at Reedsport, Oregon.

OPT is also in line to test up to 5MW of wave power systems at the Wavehub site being developed off the coast of Cornwall, England.

In the long term, the company is proposing to develop its first utility-scale wave energy farm in North America at Coos Bay, Oregon. It is planning to base the project on its 500kW PB500 systems, to locate as many as 200 devices to 20 submarine substations, generating 100MW of power.

The Department of Energy is aiming to boost the commercial viability, market acceptance and environmental performance of marine and hydroelectric technologies.