Isra-Mart srl: Ocean Power Technologies buoyed by record $9m order book

www.isra-mart.com

Ocean Power Technologies (OPT) ended last year with a record $8.9m (£5.5m) contract backlog, marking a successful year for the company, which recently deployed its first PB150 PowerBuoy wave energy device off the coast of Scotland.

The company today announced its financial results for the 12 months ending April 30, 2011, confirming it brought in $10.3m of new orders, including funding from the US Department of Energy (DoE) to develop existing and next-generation machines.

Charles F. Dunleavy, chief executive of OPT, welcomed the results as evidence of burgeoning interest in marine energy technologies.

"OPT ended fiscal 2011 with the highest backlog in its history as we achieved further progress towards PowerBuoy commercialisation," he said. "We are pleased with the many recent developments, including the successful deployment of our PB150 off Scotland, and we expect the remainder of calendar 2011 to be active as well – with ongoing progress on our PB150 in Oregon and with the planned ocean-test of a LEAP system."

He predicted next year would see stronger demand, revenue growth and additional operating improvements. "Ocean Power Technologies remains at the forefront of making reliable, cost-competitive, clean wave power a commercial reality," he said.

Contract backlog at the end of the year was $8.9m, compared to $5.7m at the end of 2010. The results also show that revenue increased 31 per cent year-on-year to $6.7m, thanks to orders from the US Navy, DoE and the UK's Technology Strategy Board.

However, net losses rose to $20.4m from $19.2m in 2010, caused primarily by lower income and an increase in foreign exchange losses.

Higher product development costs and a lower gross profit also resulted in an operating loss of $21.3m, which OPT said was in line with fiscal year 2010.

The company also said that it deployed its first PB150 device off the coast of Scotland in April, noting that power levels exceeded expectations.

The news comes just a day after Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond unveiled rival marine energy firm Aquamarine Power's latest wave energy converter, the Oyster 800.

The 800kw machine is designed to be more efficient than the 315kW Oyster I, which was installed and grid-connected at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney in late 2009.

The new Oyster will now be installed at EMEC followed by a further two machines in 2012 and 2013, linked to an onshore hydro-electric plant in a 2.4MW array.

Martin McAdam, chief executive of Aquamarine Power, said the unveiling of the device marked a significant step forward for the development of Oyster technology.

"[We] have designed it to be simpler, more robust and more efficient," he said. "This means we can offer 250 per cent more power at a third of the cost. Our goal is to make future Oysters cost competitive within the next few years. The Oyster 800 will help us gather the data that we need to deliver on that."

In related news, Spain has commissioned its first grid-connected wave power project, at the Basque seaport of Mutriku, located between Bilbao and San Sebastian.

The €2.3m project commissioned by the energy agency of the northern Basque region, Ente Vasco de la Energia, began operating last week. Voith Hydro, a joint venture of Voith and Siemens, supplied 16 power units providing 300 kw of capacity, enough to power around 250 homes.