Information from the oceans can help us understand climate change and natural disasters while also providing sources for food and energy. Persistent, reliable and cost effective instrumentation, communication, and power sources are necessary to support the maritime activities to obtain such information. Present solutions and technologies suffer from the need for costly and repetitive maintenance as well as the rather limited electric power output they provide.

The PowerBuoy system integrates patented technologies in hydrodynamics, electronics, energy conversion, and computer control systems to extract the natural energy in ocean waves. The result is a leading edge, ocean-tested, proprietary autonomous system that turns wave power into reliable, clean, and environmentally beneficial electricity for offshore applications.

Wave power is abundant in all areas of the world and its harnessing offers a dependable clean source of renewable and cost effective energy. OPT’s PowerBuoy converts such energy to provide persistent and reliable power generation for marine applications.

Current solutions for applications that require persistent, long-term operation and/or require significant power, such as batteries, solar, micro-wind and diesel, are limited and costly. The PowerBuoy® with its expandable, onboard battery system (Energy Storage System) can act as an offshore Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS).

The PowerBuoy will deliver:

Reduced operational costs (OPEX) by eliminating frequent maintenance visits to service traditional energy sources.
Real time data with enhanced density enabled by the availability of increased electrical power: Allows more effective operational decisions for improved assets utilization.
Greater availability of reliable power: Enables the introduction of new technical solutions and enhanced capability.
Proactive control and fault analysis of equipment through real time remote desktop user control and monitoring.

OPT’s PowerBuoy technology is designed to serve the offshore power requirements of the following markets:

Marine Energy Infrastructure – Datasheet