Ocean Power Technologies PB3 PowerBuoy system has delivered more than 1 megawatt-hour of electricity since deployment in the Adriatic Sea in November.
The company said the wave device has operated “continuously and error-free” while being controlled remotely from its New Jersey facility.
PowerBuoy is part of Eni’s MaREnergy project to demonstrate the suitability of wave energy renewable technologies in the oil and gas industry.
It is being tested as a standalone charging station and communications platform to enable the long-term remote operation of autonomous underwater vehicles.
Ocean Power Technologies president and chief executive George Kirby said: “We are excited to announce this major power generation milestone for our PB3 PowerBuoy deployed in the Adriatic Sea."
Since the contract began in March of last year, OPT and Eni have been collaborating as a part of the Clean Sea initiative, and have achieved several important milestones with the PowerBuoy.
The PowerBuoy has been extremely reliable and demonstrated flexibility across a variety of applications.
This ongoing successful project with Eni makes it clear that the PB3 PowerBuoy is a valuable tool for a broad range of offshore oil and gas exploration and production operations, including charging of underwater unmanned vehicles, well monitoring, asset inspection, and decommissioning applications, and this project could lead to many new opportunities for our company going forward.
