US firm ready to ship its wave-powered bouy to Middle East 

With revenue recognition on the horizon, Ocean Power Technologies (OPT), a U.S.-based marine energy firm, has completed preparations to ship the AI-capable Merrows PowerBouy (PB) to a customer in the Middle East.

With the shipment of the PB, OPT will advance to the next phase of revenue recognition for the fully integrated system. The final revenue will be recognized once the system is delivered and deployed, according to the U.S. marine player.

“We believe this shipment for a solar and wind powered system highlights our ability to service almost all marine environments across the globe,” said Philipp Stratmann, CEO and President of OPT.

“As we continue to scale, our team is working tirelessly to convert pipeline to backlog to revenues, delivering for our customers worldwide and enabling them to effectively provide ocean security. We look forward to future deliveries and additional opportunities to continue our expansion in the Middle East.”

OPT’s PBs are wave-powered energy devices that can act as uninterruptable power supply (UPS) devices that recharge themselves by harvesting energy from waves. PBs are ocean-deployed, moored, and floating over the point of use. 

In May, OPT reached nearly 15 MWh of renewable energy production from its fleet of PBs globally, with energy generation coming from deployments in the Atlantic, Pacific, Mediterranean, and North Sea. 

The U.S.-based marine energy firm unveiled in the following month that it was selected as a preferred supplier for its wave-powered buoy for delivery in the Middle East.

In early September, the company completed over four months of offshore testing of its next-generation PB in the Atlantic Ocean, offshore New Jersey, and prepared the system for deployment at the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) in Monterey to enhance maritime domain awareness and connectivity.

According to OPT, the next-generation PB, equipped with solar and wind power along with OPT’s AI-capable domain awareness solution, Merrows, maintained 100% data uptime and kept battery charge above 90% throughout the deployment.