US-based wave energy developer Ocean Power Technologies (OPT) has established an office in Houston, Texas, to support its oil & gas business development activities.
OPT said its Houston presence is intended to foster new opportunities such as commercial contracts and strategic partnerships by establishing relationships throughout the sales cycle with solution evaluators, implementers and end users.
David Marchetti, OPT’s new Director of Global Applications, will manage the company’s daily business development activities in Houston, OPT informed.
With 28-year career in the oil and gas industry, Marchetti had held various positions spanning from business development, engineering and product development, manufacturing and operations, to aftermarket.
George Kirby , President and Chief Executive Officer of OPT, said: “Our expansion to Houston is a direct reflection of the interest level we’re seeing in the oil and gas industry, as well as in other industries targeted for our products and services. Having a presence in Houston’s vibrant oil & gas hub is a critical part of serving prospective US and international customers.”
To remind, OPT formed a strategic alliance with Houston-based HAI Technologies in February 2017 to pursue mutual opportunities in the oil & gas sector through a joint applications development and marketing agreement.
OPT has developed PowerBuoy device that harvests the energy of the waves, and can act as both power and communication platform for remote offshore applications.
Its PowerBuoy portfolio includes power output ranges up to 3kW and up to 15kW, with its commercial PB3 PowerBuoy, and PB15 which is still under development.