Located off the Victorian coast at Portland, the project will involve Lockheed Martin assisting with the design of Ocean Power Technologies' (OPT) PowerBuoy(R) technology, lead the production and system integration of the wave-energy converters and support overall program management.
A funding deed sets out the terms of the federal government’s previously announced grant, including the requirement to obtain significant additional project financing. The project is to be developed by a special purpose Australian company, Victorian Wave Partners, currently owned by Ocean Power Technologies (Australasia), with the partners assessing financing opportunities for the project and pursuing power purchase agreements with Australian industry and utilities.
According to Dan Heller, vice president of new ventures for Lockheed Martin's Mission Systems & Sensors business, the company is applying its expertise to commercialise promising, emerging alternative energy technologies.
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Heller cites World Energy Council statistics which estimate that wave energy has the potential to produce around 2,000 terawatt hours of electricity a year, or enough power to meet 10 percent of the world's current energy needs, and in Australia, which he says has very attractive wave resources, “this percentage could be significantly higher.”
And, OPT CEO, Charles F. Dunleavy, said, Lockheed Martin's commitment to alternative energy and its engineering, production, and systems integration expertise would provide momentum to the company’s Australia initiatives, where both companies see “great potential for large-scale wave energy generation.”
“We also appreciate the Commonwealth government's continued support of this project, which we expect to create a significant number of local jobs as we develop and maintain operations over the life of the power station."
Image courtesy of bigstockphoto
