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Ocean Power Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: OPTT) saw its shares surge to kick off the week after the company announced the deployment of its PB3 PowerBuoy off the coast of Japan. This deployment is a crucial step in the company’s plan of using ocean waves to provide reliable and persistent electric power and real-time communications for remote offshore applications. The deployment is also part of its first lease agreement with Mitsui Engineering and Shipbuilding (MES).

The deployment of the PB3 and its moorings was completed by a joint team of Penta-Ocean Construction and MES. OPT supported MES with the mooring system specifically for the harsh ocean conditions of Kozu-shima Island.

Overall the integrated power and communication platform allows for remote offshore applications such as subsea and ocean-surface surveillance for security and defense, subsea production operations for oil and gas, and subsea drone docking stations used in the defense and oil and gas markets.

At the same time, customers can lower operational costs by replacing expensive on-site vessels with a PB3 PowerBuoy, allowing for remote offshore subsea monitoring and control from land-based operations. The PB3 can also provide substantial power to remote offshore sites when replacing lower-powered solar and battery buoys, oftentimes enabling real-time operational decision making through cellular or satellite communications, which is standard on the PB3.

Finally, the lease agreement calls for a six-month deployment with the possibility of extension. Throughout its planned deployment, the performance of the PB3 will be monitored with the intent of demonstrating its capabilities for a range of applications. If all goes according to plan, this could be a huge selling point for other customers.

George H. Kirby, president and CEO at OPT, commented:

This is an exciting time for OPT as we initiate this lease and deploy the PB3 in Japanese waters for the first time. The deployment went well and the PB3 has already exceeded two thousand Watts of peak power. We’re looking forward to leveraging this opportunity to bring our PowerBuoys to Japan and other parts of East Asia.

Shares of OPT were last seen up 47% to $2.69 on Monday, with a consensus analyst price target of $6.00 and a 52-week trading range of $1.37 to $15.65.