Victorian Wave Partners Pty. Ltd. (“VWP”), received approximately A$5.0 million in initial grant funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (“ARENA”). VWP is a project-specific entity wholly-owned by Ocean Power Technologies (Australasia) Pty. Ltd. (OPTA), which is 88% owned by OPT.
The funding received represents the first payment under the A$66.5 million grant that was awarded by ARENA to VWP toward the cost of building and deploying its planned wave power station project off the coast of Australia. VWP and ARENA signed a Deed of Variation in January, which amended the grant agreement to accelerate the reimbursement of eligible expenses for stages one and two of the planned three-stage project and increases the number of project milestones.
The grant requires the raising of significant additional funding by VWP as well as the completion of specific milestones. VWP will be deferring revenue recognition of this payment pending satisfaction of certain grant requirements.
Charles F. Dunleavy, Chief Executive Officer of OPT, said, “We appreciate the continued support of ARENA for the VWP project. Working on the development of this project with our partner, Lockheed Martin, we believe that our unique and game-changing technology will provide the impetus for job growth in Australia. Our strategy is to utilize a broad range of manufacturing and service providers under this project and to move our technology to full commercial standing. We expect this to include both our grid-connected utility system as well as our Autonomous PowerBuoy for applications in border security, maritime surveillance, and offshore oil & gas operations.”
VWP is currently conducting seabed surveys toward meeting the requirements for licenses and approvals. In addition, VWP is also assessing power purchase agreement opportunities.