Marine energy company Ocean Power Technologies (OPT) has announced that it has been awarded $2.8m (£1.8m) from the US Navy for a second stage under its existing contract to provide an autonomous Powerbuoy wave energy system for the Navy’s near-coast anti-terrorism and maritime surveillance programme.
The award follows the successful completion by OPT of the first stage of a four-year $15m project for the US Navy’s Littoral Expeditionary Autonomous Powerbuoy (LEAP) programme, which aims to develop a vessel detection system.
In the second stage of the programme, to be performed over a one-year period, the company will build and ocean test a LEAP system off the coast of New Jersey.