r/OPTTbigbag

Steve Darling: Welcome back inside our proactive newsroom. Joining me now is Philipp Stratmann. He is the CEO of Ocean Power Technologies. Philipp, it's great to see you again. How are you?

Philipp Stratmann: Doing well Steve. Good to be on.

Steve Darling: Good to see you as well. Really interesting news out from the company talking about deploying three PowerBuoys for a DHS surveillance network that they put together. First off, obviously, you've set a record here for most buoys ever deployed for a customer. This is a pretty big one.

Philipp Stratmann: Yeah. We're more than excited about this one. Seeing all the work that the commercial and technical teams on our side have been putting into it, and actually deploying three systems that are working together and streaming live data, is a fascinating sight to see. Given the fact that this is happening right off California, off San Diego, in an operational use case, is even more exciting. It’s what’s really going to help advance the next set of multi-system deployments, no matter where you need them.

Steve Darling: I also noted in the news release that you had gone to 3,500 feet of water, and I don't think that I've ever seen you go that deep. Is that the farthest you've ever gone?

Philipp Stratmann: That is by far the deepest we have ever installed anything. What is great to see about this is the fact that it truly moves our systems from coastal and continental shelf type applications to the ocean. That's over a kilometer of water depth. We've proven out that the system works, and this now opens up the aperture for really expanding surveillance and monitoring networks for any type of application, far out into whatever water depth there might be.

Steve Darling: I would imagine that because it's DHS, the fact that this is a real customer using real data, you're getting a lot of really interesting news from this. This has really pushed towards the next stage of where you want to go with the company.

Philipp Stratmann: Yes. We've been talking for a while about backlog and pipeline, but this is the proof. We are installing multi-asset systems for customers. We're collaborating with some of the greatest defense and security contractors that are out there right now. In fact, our data is streaming to Anduril, who is integrating it into their system to provide it to the Department of Homeland Security. That sets the outline and baseline of how to take this further: deploy multi-systems in areas where you need to know what's happening. We will happily collaborate with larger prime contractors so that you can then use our systems as one piece of the puzzle to provide you that missing bit of data that exists out at the edge in the ocean, and feed that into all the other intelligence you have to really get a picture of what's happening out there so you can act upon it.

Steve Darling: Lastly, I know that we've seen a lot of action and we've talked about the Strait of Hormuz before and what you see in the Middle East. I would imagine that you must be saying to yourself that this is a great opportunity for your systems to be effective in that particular area for what we've seen right now. I'm sure you're fielding lots of questions about that.

Philipp Stratmann: It's a pretty intriguing area at the moment. General seaway security and port security has always been an important topic, but the immediacy and urgency of it is really becoming obvious to everybody right now. We already have good partnerships in the region, and we already have one of our buoys deployed, which I think we announced a while ago, in the UAE. We've got several of our vehicles that are pre-staged over there. The recent announcements and appointments we made of having a GM who's based in the UAE and another GM who's based in Saudi is helping to underpin those conversations and be part of the local dialog, as opposed to it being something where we suddenly try and provide a system. And it's not just the Middle East or the Strait of Hormuz — that's obviously what everybody sees publicly right now — but there's lots of constrained seaways around the world where there's lots of activities going on, like the eastern Baltic, where we need way more eyes and ears on what's happening out in the ocean.

Steve Darling: Absolutely. Philipp, thanks so much. Really great update. Congratulations on this, it's very interesting. I'd love to see how all this works out in the next months to come. Good to see you again, thank you.

Philipp Stratmann: Thanks, Steve. Great to be on.

Steve Darling: All right. There's Philipp Stratmann, the CEO of Ocean Power Technologies.

Anyone interested in $OPTT have yourself a pleasant read.

I particularly like the mention of the “HELLSCAPE”

If you want to get in a company early, you have to get in when no one’s interested. If you can’t connect these dots from 2024 and it doesn’t expand your eyes where $OPTT is today with these “hopes” then early investing may not be for you. Good luck!