Riding the Wave: Ocean Power Technologies Has an Extremely Successful Month

Ocean Power Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq:OPTT) continues to grab contracts in the South Pacific.

One month after signing an agreement to develop wave power in Japan, Ocean Power Technologies has won a A$66.5 million ($61 million USD) grant from the Australian government to build the country's first wave power station.  Although more funding is needed in order to complete the construction of the power station, the federal grant will go a long way towards generating electricity from the waves crashing onto the coast of Victoria, Australia.  Construction is planned to commence in the second quarter of 2010.

The project is expected to generate 19 megawatts of power--enough to provide 10,000 homes with electricity.  Ocean Power Technologies has created an energy system in which waves move buoys up and down; this movement drives an electrical generator, and the electricity is transmitted to the onshore power station via a cable running along the ocean floor.

Ocean Power's recent flurry of activity is great news for the marine energy sector, which has been considered an energy resource that will not be applicable in the near future.

Read the full story at Reuters:  Ocean Power wins grant for Australian wave project

Image courtesy of Ocean Power Technologies