Nov 11 2010
Ocean Power Technologies, a New Jersey-based wave power developer, has partnered with Lockheed for developing a wave power project, either in Oregon or in California. For the utility-scale project, Ocean Power will offer its technology, while Lockheed will undertake the construction, as well as, management of the operations.
OPT Buoy
Ocean Power has planned to use the PowerBuoy generators for converting wave energy into electricity. The generated electricity will be supplied to a local power grid by transmission lines that run underwater. The 10 MW buoys from Ocean Power can be joined in arrays of many hundreds of megawatts. However, the buoys have not been tested for wave power technology in such a large scale.
Earlier in 2007, a wave power project, supposed to be the first of its kind in the US, was denied approval by the California state commissioners. The project was declined as it was highly expensive and very new. However, as wave power has recently increased its track record in the utility sector, it would prove beneficial to the wave power project of Ocean Power and Lockheed.