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___________________________________________________________________ Eco Investor Update A Weekly News Update for Environmental Investors 29
August 2011 - No 46 ASX 100 AGL Energy The underlying profit was $431.1 million, up 0.5 per cent, in line with earnings guidance in February. Revenue was up 7 per cent to $7,072.5 million, The company said its organic growth strategy in NSW has made a good start with 96,000 new electricity customers contracted in the six months to 30 June. The final dividend is 31 cents per share fully franked, bringing the full year dividend 60 cents, 52 per cent franked, an increase of 1 cent per share. Managing director, Michael Fraser, said "This is a solid result for AGL given the effects of the severe weather conditions we faced in early February, and the much lower contribution from Loy Yang A. Our core businesses remain strong." Strong growth is expected from AGL's Merchant Energy business if there are no further severe weather events as in February, and reflecting an increased contribution from AGL's hydro assets, a partial contribution from the South Australian desalination contract and the currently favourable wholesale electricity market conditions. These factors will be offset to some extent by reduced wind farm development fees, softer electricity demand and a more conservative hedge book. Solid growth is expected from the Retail Energy business, including a continuation of the growth in NSW electricity customers, while no improvement is expected in the performance of Loy Yang A. All retail markets in which AGL operates are expected to remain very competitive, said Mr Fraser. If planning approval is obtained, AGL expects to announce in 2011-12 the commencement of construction of a 500 MW gas-fired electricity generator at Dalton in NSW and a gas storage facility at Newcastle. Reuters reports that AGL Energy has supported the decision by the NSW government to extend its ban on some environmentally controversial gas extraction techniques such as fraccing, saying the approach would help address public concerns over the impact of the industry on agriculture and water supplies. "I'm very confident that this resource can be developed without causing any damage whatsoever... the NSW government, I think their approach is right," Mr Fraser is reported to have said. Strong growth in renewables is expected from 2014 to 2015 onwards. (ASX: AGK) APA Group Group chairman Len Bleasel said APA achieved another solid result, reflecting the continued profitable growth and earnings stability of APA's business. "We have spent more than $1 billion in the last four years extending and enhancing our energy infrastructure footprint and investments across Australia, including the $500 million of investment and growth capital expenditure this year. This growth continues to be largely secured by long term commercial agreements or regulatory arrangements, and continues to add to earnings each year." Managing director Mick McCormack said APA has identified over of $300 million of organic growth opportunities over the next few years." During the year APA increased its interests in Hastings Diversified Utilities Fund (HDF), Envestra and SEA Gas Pipeline at a total cost of $114 million. Its interest in HDF increased to 19.4 per cent, its interest in Envestra to 33.0 per cent, and its interest in SEA Gas Pipeline to 50 per cent. At 30 June 2011 APA had gearing of 66.2 per cent, down from 69.8 per cent in 2010. Total borrowings were $3,240 million. It also had $320 million in cash and committed undrawn facilities. Distributions for the full year rose 5 per cent to 34.4 cents, with the final distribution 17.9 cents. The distribution payout is 65.7 per cent of operating cash flow. However, APA is reviewing its distribution policy in light of the need to retain equity to support funding of its significant growth opportunities over the coming years. For 2011-12, the board's current intention is to declare total distributions per security at least equal to the 2010-11 distribution. (ASX: APA) Sims Metal Management Group chief executive officer Daniel W. Dienst said the second half net profit after tax increased by 190 per cent over the first half result. Full year revenue was $8.9 billion, up 19 per cent, and was accomplished through stronger shipments, which grew 10 per cent year on year, and improved pricing. Total scrap intake was 14.3 million tonnes. "We also invested circa
$250 million of free cash flow to execute on our growth plans for strategic
acquisitions and the implementation of proprietary technology into our
core The company's net debt to total capital was circa 4 per cent at 30 June 2011. The company maintained its dividend payout ratio at 50 per cent. The final dividend is 35 cents per share, 43 per cent franked. As part of its board succession plans, Sims has appointed Geoff Brunsdon as deputy chairperson. Mr Brunsdon has been a non-executive director of Sims since November 2009 and was a member of the predecessor board of Sims Group Ltd from 1999 to 2007. Mrs Heather Ridout and Mr John DiLacqua will join the board as independent non-executive directors. Mrs Ridout is the chief executive of the Australian Industry Group - an employer group which represents 60,000 businesses across Australia who employ more than one million staff. She is a director of the AustralianSuper Trustee Board, and of Skills Australia and Infrastructure Australia. Mr DiLacqua was formerly a director of Metal Management, Inc since June 2001, and was a director of Sims Metal Management Ltd from March to November 2008. He was the executive chairman of Envirosource, Inc., a steel mill related services company, from May 2004 to December 2004 and was its president and chief executive officer from 1999 to 2004. (ASX: SGM) ASX 200 Dart Energy Dart Energy will retain its Australian assets and focus, and to hold a majority stake in Dart Energy International. It hopes to have the restructure completed by March 2012. The company said the restructure should provide a platform for future growth and unlock shareholder value. The move follows recent, unsolicited expressions of interest in the company's international asset portfolio. As part of the review, the board concluded that Dart is trading at a material discount to both its Australian and international peers and in particular its international asset portfolio is not appropriately valued by Dart's current shareholder base. Dart said it has assembled a high quality portfolio of international assets that will benefit from a separate management and funding model; and Dart's Australian assets are well positioned to take advantage of increasing domestic gas prices and future industry consolidation linked to the LNG export market. The company may also introduce strategic partners at either the asset or corporate level for the Australian assets. Chairman, Nick Davies, said the international portfolio comprises around 80 per cent of the company's budgeted expenditure over the next 18 months. The proposed IPO and listing would also raise any additional capital for future funding of the international business. "Our extensive international portfolio is the envy of many and we want to ensure its full development through building a new international shareholder base and the possible introduction of strategic partners at a company or asset level." he said. Simon Potter, the existing chief executive and managing director, has resigned for personal reasons and will return to the UK. Mr Davies will temporarily be executive chairman until a new chief executive is appointed for Dart Energy International. In addition Shaun Scott, will temporarily expand his executive director role during the transition period and take on primary responsibility for management and implementation of strategic initiatives in Australia. (ASX: DTE) Envestra The underlying profit after tax of $47.6 million is a record and 31 per cent higher than the previous year. Revenue was up 11 per cent to $424.2 million, and transported gas volumes were up 7 per cent to 119 petajoules. The dividend will increase by 5.5 per cent to 2.9 cents, up from 2.75 cents. Envestra said growth in the business from continuing capital expenditure, the connection of new consumers and revenue increases are expected to deliver a profit after tax in 2011-12 in the order of $60 million. It anticipates being able to pay dividends totaling 5.8 cents per share in 2011-12 compared to 5.5 cents in 2010-11. (ASX: ENV) Transpacific Industries
Group Earnings (EBITDA rose by 7.5 per cent and 10.4 per cent respectively in its Cleanaway and Industrials Australia divisions, and by 10.0 per cent for Transpacific's New Zealand. "Improved market conditions in the heavy duty truck market underpinned an improved second half result for the Commercial Vehicles division. However, its annual earnings (EBITDA) were down 27 per cent. Chief executive officer Kevin Campbell said "Not all businesses in the portfolio are performing to the best of their ability. We will make tough decisions in areas where we need to do so to improve business performance." No dividend will be paid for 2010-11 as debt reduction remains a key priority for Transpacific. The company repaid $125 million of borrowings in FY11, and $240 million in net debt since mid 2009. The company has a range of initiatives to meet upcoming debt maturities. "Transpacific has sound waste management businesses. We have achieved new contract wins, been very active in areas affected by weather-related and other natural events, continued to address costs and are striving to serve our customers better," he said. The fundamentals of Transpacific's Total Waste Management businesses remain sound with good prospects for growth in the marketplace, it said. A turnaround plan for Transpacific's Manufacturing Division is being implemented to get the business back to a cash profit position as soon as possible. (ASX: TPI) ASX 300 Ceramic Fuel Cells BlueGen is the first fuel cell product to receive MCS certification and be eligible for the UK feed in tariff, it said. The feed in tariffs are 10.5 pence per kilowatt hour of electricity generated, plus an additional 3.1 pence per kilowatt hour of electricity exported to the grid. Managing director Brendan Dow said "Feed in tariffs play an important part in the UK's clean energy policy and becoming eligible for the feed in tariffs is a significant step forward for sales of our BlueGen product in the UK market." Early sales saw Ceramic Fuel's Cells revenue in 2010-11 rise 81.1 per cent to $3.68 million. It's loss was up 7.8 per cent to $21.1 million. (ASX: CFU) Tassal Group The company has reinstated its dividend and will pay a final unfranked dividend of 2 cents per share. Managing director and chief executive Mark Ryan said that the financial and operating performance reflects Tassal's strategy to deliver long term sustainable growth and that its growth platform, centred around retail penetration and distribution, is in place. "Tassal's very successful farming program has delivered very strong growth in fish and harvest size over the past 12 months. Tassal is now well placed given its substantial fish inventory to take advantage of attractive market fundamentals in our core domestic market," he said. The company is forecasting retail sector sales to continue to achieve year-on-year growth in 2011-12. It also expects improved statutory and operating earnings, increased fish size leading to lower fish costs, reduced feed prices, and full year benefits from cost efficiency initiatives with more cost efficiency strategies in place for the year. Export sales will be a major sales revenue growth driver. "Having now completed
the company's substantial capital investment program over the past three
years, Tassal's future capital expenditure will significantly reduce.
Tassal now has the platform in place to deliver improved bottom-line performance.
Given the exceptional performance of Tassal's live fish, focus on sustainable
growing practices, and world Tox Free Solutions Emerging Companies Clean TeQ Holdings "While we entered the year with an expectation of achieving sales growth, the reality proved to be different. Sales for the year were lower as anticipated projects were delayed, cancelled or lost to lower priced competition as the Government stimulus packages phased out and industrial customers began to take a conservative approach to capital investment," he said. Although the company increased overseas procurement to lower the cost of goods, made heavy cuts to its fixed cost base and made new business partnerships to strengthen market position, it was not able to avoid a net less after tax of $5.2 million. The 2009-10 profit was $1.3 million. The operational loss was $2.7 million before impairment losses and tax. Revenue collapsed from $17.1 million to $6.6 million. The pipeline of projects for the next financial year has shown positive signs of improvement and with projects already contracted in June 2011, the indications are that we will return to growth and profit for the 2012 financial year," said Mr Voigt. The company has re-evaluated its business model. "To improve performance we are taking a number of strategic initiatives across the business to strengthen our position as a quality and cost effective ‘technology supplier" and we will initiate a "technology as a service" model." Technology as a service provides the customer with a guaranteed outcome and provides the company with an annuity-based income stream. Companies are looking to focus on their core ability and to contract out their service needs, while the regulations around air and water quality continue to become more stringent, making air and water services to clients a growth area, said Mr Voigt. The UV Guard Division, primarily service and maintenance of installed disinfection systems, continued to perform and expanded its operation to New Zealand. Although the Air Division is
a leader in air pollution measures such as for odour and volatile organic
emission control, there is considerable pressure to reduce costs through
international procurement, especially from Asia. "We must move to
a business model that leverages our in-house IP with a cost competitive
Asian-based manufacturing partner to deliver the highest quality technology
at the most cost completive price," he said. CO2 Group The CFI will enhance farm productivity and reduce the effects of climate change, it said. "This is a national scheme that provides accredited carbon offsets. The CFI puts in place a framework for the creation of carbon offsets from a range of activities including carbon forestry, management of legacy waste emissions, better management of soil carbon and techniques to reduce methane emissions from livestock," said chief executive, Andrew Grant. CO2 is Australia's largest provider of forest carbon sink plantings. "Following the recent announcement of carbon price legislation that provides CO2 Group with exposure to around 500 large carbon emitters, the CFI means we can now expand into a much larger international market. "We also welcome the Opposition's commitment to retaining the Carbon Farming Initiative should they win Government. This provides farmers and industry with regulatory confidence to invest in carbon projects," Mr Grant said. The Carbon Farming Initiative also offers new economic opportunities for Indigenous landholders. (ASX: COZ) DoloMatrix International The company said the contract was awarded in part on its superior environmental outcomes for the treatment of collected waste. The contract involves the management of hazardous waste from fixed drop off points as well as possible collection days in various locations around WA. The tender win, along with the existing Hazwaste operation in Kalgoorlie, will form the profitable base from which to grow the Western Australian business, said managing director, John White. (ASX: DMX) Energy Developments The biggest specific item was a $34.3 million impairment of the West Kimberley Power Project. Net profit after tax but before specific items was $32.9 million, up 17 per cent. Managing director, Greg Pritchard, said "We have carried out an extensive review of assets, opportunities and our financing during the year and have a clear view of the organic and acquisition opportunities that lie before us in coming periods. "These include ongoing expansion in the US LFG business as well as further expansion in the Australian energy market through the recently announced enGen acquisition in WA," he said. Cash on hand at 30 June 2011 was $70.1 million. The Company has undrawn credit lines of $109 million on hand to fund future growth such as the $101 million enGen acquisition. (ASX: ENE) ERM Power Revenue of $549.8 million was 15 per cent higher than the prospectus forecast of $478.9 million and 32 per cent higher than the $418.4 million in 2009-10. Statutory net profit after tax was $16.2 million compared to a $15.8 million loss in 2009-10. The 2009-10 statutory profit was $26.5 million. Underlying net profit, which
excludes unrealized changes in the fair value of financial instruments,
was $6.3 million, 80 per cent higher than the prospectus forecast of $3.5
million. Underlying earnings per share were 4.5 cents. The dividend per share is 3.5 cents fully franked, the same as for the previous year. Eco Investor has upgraded ERM Power from a microcap to an emerging company. (ASX: EPW) Gale Pacific The final dividend payment is 1.2 cents fully franked, making the full year dividend 10 per cent greater at 2.2 cents per share on diluted earnings of 2.4 cents per share. Revenue fell 3 per cent to $95.6 million, impacted by the strong Australian dollar. Sales revenues in local currencies grew by 3 per cent in the US and 18 per cent in the Middle East. "New customers were won in Europe and South Africa as we increased our market penetration into new markets following the hiring earlier this year of a General Manager International Sales and Marketing," said managing director and chief executive officer, Peter McDonald. However, there were lower sales in Australia due to a mild summer, wet weather and flooding across many parts of the eastern states. (ASX: GAP) Greencap The new group managing director is Earl Eddings, who was initially employed as the chief executive of subsidiary, Noel Arnold and Associates. Mr Eddings has over 20 years of experience in risk management and extensive experience in managing large consulting services groups. (ASX: GCG) Hydromet Hydromet Corporation, Australia's largest recycler of industrial waste residue, saw group revenue rise 59 per cent to $68.7 million. The final fully-franked dividend is 0.1 cent per share, bringing total dividend for the year to 0.175 cents – 75 per cent higher than for 2009-10. Chairman, Dr Lakshman Jayaweera, said the profit reflected several well-performing parts of the business, including plant performance, productivity, feed sourcing and marketing of end-product. "We were also able to benefit from strong commodity prices, particularly during the second half of the financial year," he said. "On the other side of the ledger was the adverse effect of the strong Australian dollar, particularly during the latter part of the year." Dr Jayaweera said the company expects strong revenues to continue in FY2012. "Hydromet has a solid foundation and we are confident that, in the year ahead, the company will consolidate its position and diversify its activities, minimizing our exposure to commodity-driven pressures. Hydromet is very stable, both financially and commercially, and we believe we are in a good position to counter any weakness in the Australian or international economies." Dr Jayaweera said Hydromet is looking at expansion options. "Having achieved a successful and sustainable business in lead and selenium fields, we are exploring the potential to diversify our growth plan via synergistic acquisitions. Management is currently in discussion with interested parties who, we believe, can offer us complementary business opportunities which will add significant value to future growth." Management is also in the process of developing a new large-scale residue treatment project with a smelter client, potentially leading to a long-term contract. "Subject to successful negotiation and conclusion in the next 2-3 months, we hope that the project can be incorporated into our Tomago site by the end of 2012," said Dr Jayaweera. Managing director Greg Wrightson is standing down but will continue with the company on a consulting basis. Dr Jayaweera is the new managing director and will remain as chairman. (ASX: HMC) Novarise Renewable Resources
International On a RMB basis, revenue grew by 17 per cent from the previous corresponding period. The growth was due to strong demand for all of Novarise's recycled PP products and increased sales volume underpinned by stable pricing. Novarise said net profit after tax for the six months is expected to be between $7 to $7.3 million (RMB 48 to RMB 50 million). On a RMB basis, this is a rise of 50 per cent. The company said trading conditions are becoming challenging in the six months to December due to anticipated softer demand, declining consumer confidence and the general economic volatility in China and globally. Due to unseasonal monsoon rain which affected construction of the new Nan'an facility, production at the facility has been delayed to the fourth quarter 2011 with initial production expected to commence in October. (ASX: NOE) SteriHealth The company increased revenue by 5 per cent or nearly $3 million to $49.5 million, but expenses rose about $4.5 million. The revenue growth was entirely organic, with SteriHealth improving its market share in the public hospital clinical waste market, it said. The revenue increase in the supply and service of reusable sharps collectors was 9.1 per cent. Total Waste Management revenue more than doubled, and margins within the SteriHealth Laboratory Products business were considerably enhanced. The company launched its new clinical waste collection system, Clinismart, an extension of the Sharpsmart range. The final dividend is 7 cents per share fully franked. Dan Daniels, managing director, said "SteriHealth continues to deliver on its strategy of pursuing organic opportunities, which has resulted in further revenue growth during the period. SteriHealth is well placed to capitalise on our investment in a larger business footprint in 2011 and to offer new products and services and to expand into new segments within the healthcare market." (ASX: STP) Micro Cap Companies Carbon Conscious "The CFI provides certainty for the carbon bio-sequestration industry and confidence for major carbon emitters and investors, who are looking for proven, reliable ways to offset their carbon emissions. Growing trees to create carbon credits not only helps reduce carbon emissions, it converts poor quality land into productive land and generates long-term environmental, social and economic benefits for local communities." The introduction of a carbon price and the passage of the CFI make it more likely that up to $190 million worth of commercial options to plant trees on behalf of existing clients will now be exercised, he said. (ASX: CCF) Cell Aquaculture The consideration for the shares is $25,000. The shares issued reflect conversion of part only of the first Convertible Note issued to La Jolla. La Jolla has three convertible notes for a total of US$6 million. Funding is drawn at US$150,000 per month. Cell Aquaculture's shares are at an all time low of 5.5 cents. (ASX: CAQ) EcoQuest Eco Quest said it anticipates an increase in its sales revenue during the September quarter. It is also negotiating a placement which is expected to be completed well before the end of the quarter. During the September quarter, the company expects to make payments for additional stock, but that is dependent on the amount of sales uptake during the quarter. Negative cash is forecast at or around the levels of the June quarter. (ASX: ECQ) Eden Energy The components will be installed with minimal disruption of the carbon test production schedule, said Eden . The production laboratory includes a self-contained clean production room with an industrial air handling system. Two reactors are being readied for trials, leading to annual commercial scale production of up to 100 tonnes of carbon nanofibres and 33 tonnes of hydrogen. Hythane Company is also finishing its epoxy composite test program. Initial results are positive, and said to be a good indication that carbon nanotubes are an excellent candidate for Electrostatic Discharge applications utilizing epoxy as a matrix material. Samples of carbon nanotubes and carbon nanofibres for testing purposes have been provided or sold to a number of different industries including for testing in batteries, electronic paper and other applications. The testing will take between one and three months after which Hythane Company anticipates that it will be able to assess the reaction of these markets. Eden said the project is progressing very well and it is confident that suitable commercial applications will emerge for the potentially large quantities of carbon nano-materials that will be produced. (ASX: EDE) Electrometals Technologies The recycler said this was not expected as metals prices are at record highs. "Many customers have several new projects vying for capital during the metals "boom" and our offerings are now competing with some of the new larger core business projects at the customer sites," said the company. Delays on several key prospects led to the poor financial result. (ASX: EMM) European Gas A petroleum engineer, Mr Briens previously held the positions of chief strategy officer and chief operating officer of BPZ Resources (NYSE: BPZ), a company that became public in 2004 and was trading in the New York Stock Exchange by 2009. From 2002 through 2004, Mr Briens was Geosciences and Business Development Manager for Perenco Venezuela S.A. From 1999 to 2002, he was the Chief Reservoir Engineer for Lundin Petroleum in Switzerland. (ASX: EPG) Geothermal Resources Havilah will offer to acquire all of Geothermal's shares that it does not hold, about 41.3 per cent of Geothermal, by way of an off-market takeover bid. Havilah is offering one of its shares for every four Geothermal shares. The bid has a number of conditions including 90 per cent minimum acceptance. The offer is at premium of 40 per cent to Geothermal's closing price on 19 August. Geothermal said Havilah is better placed to raise the substantial capital required to develop its Geothermal projects. Havilah is a diversified minerals explorer and owns 45 per cent of a uranium explorer. Havilah will not be followed by Eco Investor. (ASX: GHT) Kimberley Rare Earths No effective drilling exists over the new targets, said the company. (ASX: KRE) Orbital Corporation Statutory net profit after tax was $1.76 million compared to a profit of $4.52 million in 2009- 10. Underlying profit after tax of $0.16 million compared to a loss of $2.31 million last year. Synerject increased revenue to US$120.83 million, up 34 per cent, and profit after tax to US$6.50 million, up 37 per cent. The strong Australian dollar adversely impacted the result by $0.54 million compared to the prior year. "Continued delivery on our strategy and the investments to date provide a solid foundation for targeted growth in the coming year," said Mr Stinson. (ASX: OEC) Pacific Environment Pacific Environment said EnviroSuite is central to its services and will provide QAL with industry-leading capability in real-time modeling and management of air emissions. "The technology is at the forefront of best practice industrial air emission management." Alumina refineries are large complex operations with a variety of air emissions that require management under environmental licences. The EnviroSuite platform has many modules including real-time modeling of emissions, management of licensing obligations, NPI (National Pollutant Inventory) and NGER (National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting) reporting, energy management, carbon management, and human and environmental impact management. The modules are built on the company's environmental data collection solution, Data Mart, and are being extended to manage noise, blasting, water quality and other issues that relate to industrial and resources operations. (ASX: PEH). Petratherm The SPP was initially extended to 12 September. (ASX: PTR) RedFlow The biggest increase in costs was payroll expenses which jumped to $4.8 million from $445,196. The company said "In line with expectations, RedFlow Limited commenced commercial production and achieved solid sales and shipments of energy storage systems in 2010-11." (ASX: RFX) Water Resources Group The company has signed a Letter of intent for approximately US$10 million for a WRG ASWRO system. It will be the preferred supplier for a 25 year water supply contract, with an initial requirement of 4,000 cubic metres per day. It will also provide service and maintenance. Construction is expected to start in December. The deal is through Water Resources Group's 49 per cent joint venture company, Blue Aquifer LDA. All equipment and systems will be supplied by WRG for a total sale price of around US$10 million. WRG will also earn 49 per cent of the water sales for the 25 year contract term and provide a service and maintenance contract. Cape Verde president, Francisco Fernandes Tavares said "I'm pleased to inform you that Blue Aquifer is our preferred supplier of potable desalinated sea water for this project and, assuming that commercially reasonable terms and a competitive price can be agreed, we intend to enter into a 25 year contract." The Municipality of Santa Catarina requires water to be supplied by September 2012 and WRG expects to enter into formal agreements by October 2011. WRG also announced the completion of the joint venture agreement with the 51 per cent shareholders of Blue Aquifer. One of the shareholders is Loid Engineering, a well known engineering firm in the region. The chief executive of WRG, Brian Harcourt said "We are very pleased to have concluded this Joint Venture Agreement which has attracted the Santa Catarina project. We believe that in the near future other municipalities in the Cape Verde Islands will take advantage of our low cost, chemical free, community based desalination systems and Blue Aquifer is well placed to supply this market." (ASX: WRG) International Companies Contact Energy The final distribution to shareholders will be 12 cents per share resulting in a full year distribution of 23 cents per share, a decrease of 2 cents from the prior year. The distribution represents a payout ratio of 100 per cent of Contact's underlying earnings per share. In the 2011 financial year, Contact commenced the NZ$623 million Te Mihi geothermal power station in the Wairakei geothermal resource area. The Te Mihi project is 5 kilometres from the Wairakei geothermal power station. The Te Mihi power station is expected to be brought into operation in 2013. Once completed, 45 megawatts of the existing Wairakei station will be decommissioned, resulting in a net increase in output from the power stations on the Wairakei geothermal resource of 114 megawatts. Contact said it continues to investigate wind, hydro and gas-fired opportunities to help meet demand forecasts. (NSX: CEN) Ocean Power Technologies The deployment is part of the US Navy's Littoral Expeditionary Autonomous PowerBuoy (LEAP) program for coastal security and maritime surveillance. The LEAP PowerBuoy structure incorporates a power take-off and on-board energy storage system that is significantly smaller and more compact than the company's standard utility PowerBuoy. It provides persistent, off-grid clean energy in remote ocean locations for a wide variety of maritime security and monitoring applications. Under the LEAP program, OPT
has integrated the PowerBuoy with radar network and communications infrastructure
from Rutgers University's Institute of Marine and Coastal The PowerBuoy provides power at the lower levels needed for the sophisticated vessel detection and tracking system, enabling maritime surveillance in the near coast, harbors and littoral zones worldwide. Currently, systems requiring
remote power at sea are often powered by diesel generators, which need
frequent maintenance and fuel replenishment. The LEAP PowerBuoy was "This is a significant achievement for Ocean Power Technologies in the development and commercialization of its technology," said Charles F. Dunleavy, Ocean Power's chief executive officer. "The US Navy is our first customer in an attractive market for our technology in national security applications and in industries for which power is needed offshore." (Nasdaq: OPTT) Eco Investor Update
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