Ocean Power Technologies (OPT) has begun Accelerated Life Testing (ALT) on its redesigned APB350 power takeoff (PTO) system as part of its effort to demonstrate product reliability and durability, and to accelerate toward product commercialization.
The OPT ALT process consists of operating PTOs in tandem with accelerated operating profiles, which subjects the PTOs to various load conditions encountered in extreme sea states. The test simulates an equivalent three-year ocean deployment within a period of six to nine months, with PTOs that are identical to those of the Company’s APB350 (A1).
Dr. Mike M. Mekhiche, OPT’s Vice President of Engineering , commented: “We believe that conducting accelerated life testing provides an innovative approach to stress-testing our products and processes. ALT is a critical component of our development and manufacturing validation process as we focus on improving the robustness and durability of our systems. We intend to use ALT results to improve our PowerBuoy designs, and to validate reliability, which we believe will be critical to our prospective customers.”
George H. Kirby, President and Chief Executive Officer of OPT , stated: “We expect the ALT process will assist the Company in shortening the time to bring our products to the commercial market, as well as to add credibility to our designs for our prospective customers. We continue to be encouraged by the APB350 (A1) sea trial results thus far and I believe that the ALT will further validate the APB350’s performance. We believe this will create an appealing and competitive value proposition to offshore marine markets requiring persistent power.”
OPT also announced that it retrieved its APB350 (A1) PowerBuoy for a necessary repair. The PowerBuoy had been deployed off the coast of New Jersey since late August, and it is now ready for redeployment at the earliest available weather window. Upon redeployment, sea trials of the A1 will continue off the coast of New Jersey to further validate the buoy reliability and survivability with periodic inspections as needed.
Kirby said: “Our key goals for the APB350 (A1) deployment are to test the linear seal, which prevents water from entering the buoy, overall mechanical integrity, and our newly designed PTO. These results to date have been impressive, including those from the ALT process which helps to further validate the durability of our PTO. In addition, we were able to further validate the survivability of the PowerBuoy during Hurricane Joaquin which successfully survived very rough and high sea states. This coupled with the APB350 performance during Hurricane Irene in 2011 can provide our prospective customers with added confidence in the reliability of its design.”
OPT also announced that it entered into an At The Market equity offering sales agreement (ATM Agreement) with Rodman & Renshaw, a unit of H.C. Wainwright & Co., on October 19, 2015, under which the Company may offer and sell, from time to time, shares of its common stock having an aggregate offering price of up to $2,906,836. OPT intends to use the net proceeds of the offering for working capital and general corporate purposes.
Under the ATM Agreement, sales of common stock, if any, through Rodman & Renshaw, a unit of H.C. Wainwright & Co., as sales agent will be made by means of ordinary brokers’ transactions, in private negotiated transactions, or otherwise, at market prices prevailing at the time of sales, prices related to prevailing market prices or negotiated prices.
Image: OPT