OPT Newsletter: Energy in Motion, New Year, 2015

OPT Newsletter New Year 2015 Energy in Motion solutions for the marine Delivering reliable, innovative energy environment Introduction We at OPT would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year for 2015 and welcome you to the first of a quarterly newsletter that will update you on OPT’s progress in developing the first commercial product that converts ocean waves into electricity for autonomous marine applications. The delivery of reliable and persistent, power for marine operations is both expensive and time consuming and many innovative solutions and advances to current practices are hampered by this problem. To address this complex challenge, OPT is progressing the commercialisation of our PowerBuoy® wave-‐energy technology that harnesses ocean wave resources to generate reliable, persistent and clean electricity. Our market assessment indicates a strong demand for autonomous power sources for marine operations: We believe our technology has the potential to drive innovation and introduce many new capabilities to make future marine operations more cost effective. Commercialisation of our wave energy technology remains challenging; however we are optimistic that we have the expertise to make this a reality in the near future. We hope that you will enjoy the journey with us. Strategy Overview Over the past 15 years, the OPT strategy primarily has been to focus on very large utility scale devices for grid connection. The costs associated with the fabrication, ocean deployment and maintenance of the larger scale devices are not commercially viable at this stage in the maturity curve. As such, OPT has readjusted our strategy and overall approach to achieve the commercialisation of our PowerBuoy® technology. Accordingly, we have shifted our immediate focus to smaller-‐scale devices, such as the PB-‐40, (a 40kW-‐
rated PowerBuoy), and the smaller APB-‐350, (a 350-‐Watt-‐rated PowerBuoy), both of which are suitable for autonomous applications and are scheduled to be deployed off the coast of New Jersey in 2015. We believe that we can optimise our technology more efficiently on smaller-‐scale devices which are more economical to manufacture and deploy than larger buoys while addressing the challenges of persistence, reliability and cost effectiveness that have been hindering the incumbent power sources in remote marine applications. As the technology matures, we anticipate that the market will seek new applications requiring greater power. We intend to meet those needs in measured steps. Deployments are critical to technology advancement in order to accumulate a successful operating history that demonstrates durability and reliability at acceptable levels of commercial risk taking. They also give potential customers and user’s confidence that the technology will deliver the performance expected. OPT has accumulated a significant body of knowledge through PowerBuoy deployments of varying capabilities over the years and have integrated that knowledge into our engineering design and development process for the autonomous devices. Proprietary Information This document & information contained herein is the sole property of Ocean Power Technologies (OPT), & may not be reproduced or used for any purpose other than which it was intended without permission from OPT. Ocean Power Technologies, Inc. 1590 Reed Road, Pennington, New Jersey 08534, USA., Moving Forward We continue to advance promising technologies including advanced controls to enable an increase in electric power output and further optimise our direct-‐drive Modular Power Take-‐Off (MPTO) technology. Recently, our Board has been significantly strengthened by the addition of experienced financial and operating executives. The Board has also actively participated with management in formulating our current strategy and has recently appointed George H. Kirby as President, CEO and Director. When combined with recent employee additions to various executive, business and engineering functions over the past several months, we believe that we have addressed the critical skills and talent that are necessary to better focus our Company and ensure effective business execution. Survey Results In October 2014 OPT conducted an online survey and additional one-‐to-‐one in-‐depth interviews that were well supported by industry specialists from industries such as Oil and Gas, Offshore Wind and Defense. The purpose of this initiative was to ensure our autonomous development roadmap closely matched the requirements from our potential customers and end users. The response was excellent with busy people giving up their time to help us and for this we wish to express our gratitude. It was clear that our respondents wanted us to initially focus on the one main attribute – “RELIABILITY” •
Reliable power delivery in real ocean conditions such as the North Sea for over 12 months (if not longer) •
Reliable communications to the Autonomous PowerBuoy (APB) itself •
Reliable communications and control of attached equipment •
Reliable mooring system ( ensuring the APB stays on station) Respondents to the survey were also keen to see demonstration and then deployment of near term applications using the existing APB-‐350 power capability. This would provide confidence for the subsequent application on higher powered devices and applications in which continuous power and communications were more critical. Accordingly, with the shift in our strategic focus and formulation of a dedicated internal team, OPT has now created, and plans to implement, a roadmap of development that incorporates these views and future demonstrations of the desired attributes. These newsletters will give readers regular updates on our progress. Proprietary Information This document & information contained herein is the sole property of Ocean Power Technologies (OPT), & may not be reproduced or used for any purpose other than which it was intended without permission from OPT. Ocean Power Technologies, Inc. 1590 Reed Road, Pennington, New Jersey 08534, USA., Progress Our current improvements in advanced controls and our direct-‐drive Modular Power Take-‐Off (MPTO) technology are incorporated into our prototypes. We anticipate that improvements in overall performance will be achieved allowing a broader application into new markets.
PB40 We continue to believe that ocean trials are the most effective means of demonstrating the current state of technology and to provide the critical operating data to guide further product improvements. Due to the shared technology with our smaller scale autonomous buoys, the testing of the PB40 also enables us to more rapidly execute our strategic shift to capitalize on the growing market for offshore data collection and transmission that require off grid power production at a smaller scale. The PB40 PowerBuoy fabricated for the WavePort EU FP-‐7 Project was shipped from Santander, Spain to Bayonne, NJ with the intent to deploy off the coast of New Jersey in the first quarter of 2015. The PowerBuoy is now assembled, and pre-‐deployment tests are being conducted before expected deployment in early 2015. APB-‐350 We have created a dedicated team of senior personnel with project management and engineering experience to dramatically accelerate the development of our re-‐designed APB-‐350 PowerBuoy. Our next generation prototype APB-‐350 (A1) will utilize the existing structure that was deployed in 2013 but will include a new PTO and upgraded components and is expected to be deployed in the early summer of 2015. Our second generation APB-‐350 (A2) is being designed with an optimized geometry for reduced weight and size and more cost-‐effective shipping and deployment: the intent is for the A2 design to fit into a standard 40-‐foot shipping container to reduce transportation and deployment costs. This is planned for deployment in late 2015. Proprietary Information This document & information contained herein is the sole property of Ocean Power Technologies (OPT), & may not be reproduced or used for any purpose other than which it was intended without permission from OPT. Ocean Power Technologies, Inc. 1590 Reed Road, Pennington, New Jersey 08534, USA., Sea Trials 2004 WA State 2005 Atlantic City, NJ State 2007 & 2008 Marine Corps Base Hawaii 2008 Spain 2011 Scotland About Ocean Power Technologies 2011 & 2013 NJ Ocean Power Technologies (Nasdaq:OPTT) is a pioneer in renewable wave-‐energy technology development that converts ocean wave energy into electricity. OPT's proprietary PowerBuoy® technology is based on a modular design and has undergone periodic ocean testing since 1997. OPT has grown from these beginnings to a publicly listed NASDAQ company, trading under the symbol “OPTT”. OPT is headquartered in the US with representatives in the European Union and Australasia regions. For more information, please contact our business devlopment team and/or visit our APB webpage www.oceanpowertechnologies.com USA: OPT Inc. UK & Europe: OPT Ltd. Australasia: OPTA Pty Debbie Montagna Paul Watson Ross Waring, PhD Vice President Business Development Business Development Director Business Development Director [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] (609) 730-‐0400 x221 +44 (0) 7789 907038 +61 (0) 420 717 861 Ocean Power Technologies, Inc. Delivering reliable, innovative energy solutions for the marine environment Corporate Headquarters: Ocean Power Technologies, Inc. (OPT) , 1590 Reed Road, Pennington, NJ 08534 USA Proprietary Information This document & information contained herein is the sole property of Ocean Power Technologies (OPT), & may not be reproduced or used for any purpose other than which it was intended without permission from OPT. Ocean Power Technologies, Inc. 1590 Reed Road, Pennington, New Jersey 08534, USA., Forward-‐Looking Statements This newsletter may contain "forward-looking statements" that are within the safe harbor provisions of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are identified by certain words or phrases
such as "may", "will", "aim", "will likely result", "believe", "expect", "will continue", "anticipate", "estimate",
"intend", "plan", "contemplate", "seek to", "future", "objective", "goal", "project", "should", "will pursue" and
similar expressions or variations of such expressions. These forward-looking statements reflect the Company's
current expectations about its future plans and performance. These forward-looking statements rely on a number of
assumptions and estimates which could be inaccurate and which are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual
results could vary materially from those anticipated or expressed in any forward-looking statement made by the
Company. Please refer to the Company's most recent Forms 10-Q and 10-K and subsequent filings with the SEC
for a further discussion of these risks and uncertainties. The Company disclaims any obligation or intent to update
the forward-looking statements in order to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this release.
Proprietary Information This document & information contained herein is the sole property of Ocean Power Technologies (OPT), & may not be reproduced or used for any purpose other than which it was intended without permission from OPT. Ocean Power Technologies, Inc. 1590 Reed Road, Pennington, New Jersey 08534, USA.,

Download Report