Daniel Englander

OPT Heads for the Land Down Under with 10 MW Project May 19, 2008 at 11:10 AM

If Ocean Power Technologies hits a production target, and no one’s around to see it go in the water, did it really happen? OPT announced today it has signed a joint venture agreement with Griffin Energy, an Australian power company. The JV agreement calls for OPT to build a 10 MW turnkey wave park, “with potential expansion to 100 MW.” If the project hits the 100 MW mark, it will be Australia’s largest wave installation. Oceanlinx, an Australian company developing an oscillating water column with an innovative bi-directional, variable pitch turbine currently holds that record - it’s currently developing a two-stage, 20 MW park off the coast of Portland, on Australia’s east coast.

OPT’s got a lot of ducks in the water, so to speak. It’s developing projects in Hawaii, Oregon, Spain, and the UK, though all but one (Oregon) have fairly small capacity targets. The Spanish project, which OPT is developing with Iberdrola, has an initial capacity target of 1.39 MW, while the UK project at the WaveHub in Cornwall has a 5 MW target. If ranked by number of projects, OPT is certainly among the top in its ocean power class. However, OPT, unlike other leading ocean power companies - PelamisWave, Marine Current Turbines, and Oceanlinx - has yet to produce a full-scale commercial device. A few years ago the company set a multi-stage production ramp, planning to boost its per unit device capacity from 40 kW, to 150 kW, to 250 kw, to the final 500 kW PowerBuoy. It had planned to have the 150 kW buoy in operation by 2007, with the 250 kW buoy entering production in 2008, and the utility-scale 500 kW buoy coming off the shop floor in 2009 or 2010.

The company has a few 40 kW buoys in the water, and is only now beginning work on the 150 kW. OPT has run into some problems tuning the power take off system on the 150 kW, a critical element in electricity production. If it continues to hit the wall on this development target, chances for success in Australia or elsewhere may be limited. Still, the company has developed a promising technology that, if its able to hit the 500 kW, may become the most successful wave power device. It’s possible OPT has perfected the 150 kW buoy and neglected to mention it, deciding instead to sign a contract for the 10 MW plant in Australia to signal that production milestone. If that’s not the case, however, OPT may be headed for some trouble in Oz.

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