EDGAR 10-K Filing

Company CIK: 1378140
Filing Year: 2022
Filename: 1378140_10-K_2022_0001493152-22-019173.json

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ITEM 1. BUSINESS
ITEM 1. BUSINESS
Overview
Our solutions focus on three major services areas, Data as a Service, which includes data collected by our Wave Adaptive Modular Vessel (WAM-V®) autonomous vehicles or our PowerBuoy® Product lines; Power as a Service, which includes our PowerBuoy® and Subsea battery products; and our Strategic Consulting Services.
We provide ocean data collection and reporting, marine power, offshore communications, and Maritime Domain Awareness (“MDA”) products and consulting services. We offer our products and services to a wide-range of customers, including those in government and offshore energy, oil and gas, construction, wind power and other industries. We are involved in the entire life cycle of product development, from product design through manufacturing, testing, deployment, maintenance and upgrades. working closely with partners across our supply chain. We also work closely with our third party partners that provide us with, among other things, software, controls, sensors, integration services, and marine installation services. Our solutions enable technologies for data collection, analysis, and communication in ocean and other offshore environments, and generate actionable intelligence via a variety of inputs. We then channel the information we collect, and other communications, through control equipment linked to edge computing and cloud hosting environments.
Our mission is to provide intelligent maritime solutions and services that enable more secure and more productive utilization of our oceans and waterways, provide clean energy power services, and offer sophisticated surface and subsea maritime domain awareness solutions. We achieve this through our proprietary, state-of-the-art technologies that are at the core of our clean and renewable energy platforms, and our solutions and services.
We were incorporated under the laws of the State of New Jersey in April 1984 and began commercial operations in 1994. On April 23, 2007, we reincorporated in Delaware.
Our Solutions
Data as a Service
Our Data as a Service solution is at the forefront of our strategic plan to be a leader in offshore data collection, integration, analytics and real time communication for a variety of important applications. For example, our solutions can track surface movement for maritime border enforcement, illegal fishing interdiction, provide security for offshore wind farms and oil and gas fields, or provide harbor or port security as well as logistics support. We have the ability to support aquaculture and gather information on ocean currents, water quality, wind and other weather metrics, and map shorelines or subsurface areas. Additionally, we offer 24/7 monitoring solutions that can provide meaningful real time information, and long term data collection and analytics for sophisticated applications across many industries and scientific applications.
As part of our Data as a Service division, in October 2020, the Company entered into an agreement with Adams Communication & Engineering Technology, Inc. (“ACET”) to conduct a feasibility study for the evaluation of a PB3 power and 5G communications solution in support of the U.S. Navy’s Naval Postgraduate School’s Sea, Land, Air, Military Research Initiative (“SLAMR”).
Maritime Domain Awareness Solution (“MDAS”)
The International Maritime Organization defines Maritime Domain Awareness (“MDA”) as the effective understanding of any activity that could impact the security, safety, economy, or environment related to and within our oceans and seas. Since 2002, the United States of America has had an active strategy to secure the Maritime Domain, primarily through the U.S. Navy. Furthermore, in 2020 the U.S. Coast Guard elevated Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (“IUU”) fisheries, one aspect of MDA security, as the leading global maritime threat.
We have designed our solution to provide detailed, localized maritime domain awareness that can be utilized for a wide range of applications across market segments. Our MDAS base hardware consists of a high-definition radar, a stabilized high-definition optical and thermal imaging camera, and a vessel automatic identification system (“AIS”) detection module. This hardware can be customized or supplemented by other solutions, depending on our customer’s requirements, These devices are mounted on our products, such as our PB3 PowerBuoy® or WAM-V®, and then utilizing integrated command and control software, data is sent to us and to our customers via secure communications channels. Multiple sensors can be used on a single unit based on the comprehensiveness of customer needs. Capabilities of our MDAS include 24/7 vessel tracking, automatic radar plotting, automated vessel warnings, and high-definition optical and thermal video surveillance capable of providing actionable intelligence day or night, in real time.
We anticipate that data from our MDAS will be processed onboard our buoys or WAM-Vs using edge computing, transmitted to our cloud-based analytics platform via secure Wi-Fi, cellular, and/or satellite systems. Surveillance data can be integrated with third party marine monitoring software or with our own MDA software solution developed together with leading partners in the technology industry to provide command and control features of a multi-buoy surveillance network. This network can be coordinated with the use of our WAM-Vs so that customers can have mobile sensor networks linked to our self-powered buoy data and communication hubs. The data can also be integrated with satellite, weather, bathymetric, and other third party data feeds to form a detailed surface and subsea picture of a monitored area.
The development of a complete, integrated MDAS is still underway, however, we achieved a key milestone in October 2021, with the initiation of our offshore demonstration of the new system utilizing our hardware and TimeZero software off the coast of New Jersey. To date we have collected more than 2,000 radar and AIS tracks from this demonstration, which is being used to refine the design of our MDAS. Initial field demonstration of our MDAS software began in May 2022 and is ongoing.
Autonomous Vehicles (“WAM-V®”)
On November 15, 2021, the Company acquired all of the outstanding equity interest of Marine Advanced Robotics, Inc. (“MAR”). Founded in 2004, MAR is the developer of the patented Wave Adaptive Modular Vessel (WAM-V®) technology, which enables roaming capabilities for uncrewed maritime systems in waters around the world. MAR launched the first WAM-V® in 2007 as a new vessel class to deliver to customers reliable autonomous surface vehicles that could provide robust, real-time data collection and reporting. MAR also provides RaaS (Robotics as a Service) allowing customers to lease WAM-V® robotics and access information from our WAM-V’s while we maintain ownership and maintenance and repair responsibilities. Today, WAM-Vs® operate in 11 countries for commercial, military and scientific uses. Our WAM-Vs exist in three primary sizes, 8, 16, and 22 feet, however, many of the design components are common across the sizes, allowing for integration of different payloads and adaption of the payload platforms for larger equipment. All sizes can be adapted to suit different propulsion methods.
This acquisition immediately provided the Company with an established product line that highly complements the Company’s business strategy and can be used inshore, nearshore, and offshore. Since the acquisition, the business of MAR has continued to grow and is further expanding into its core marine survey and maritime security markets in Europe, Asia, Oceania and the Americas. As we continue to leverage MAR technology with OPT, we expect to expand on the synergistic opportunities we have identified. For example, we plan to integrate the MDAS platform onto the WAM-V® to expand our MDA offering to provide a roaming MDA solution to our customers.
Power as a Service
Power as a Service solutions deliver value to customers by utilizing our managed power platforms. We continue to develop and commercialize our proprietary power platforms that generate electricity primarily by harnessing the renewable energy of ocean waves for our PowerBuoy® (“PB3”), solar power for our hybrid PowerBuoy® (the “hybrid PB”) and have the option of adding small wind turbines to supplement power generation. We also continue to commercialize our subsea battery for topside and subsea power applications and as additional storage when combined with our buoy platforms. Our focus for these solutions is on bringing autonomous clean power to our customers wherever it is required. Moreover, offshore data and communications networks require power to function, and our solution solves for this need without requiring ongoing battery replacement or older technologies such as shore to station power cables.
PB3 PowerBuoy®
The PB3 uses proprietary technologies that convert the kinetic energy created by the motion of ocean waves into electricity. The PB3 features a unique onboard power take-off (“PTO”) system, which incorporates both energy storage and energy management and control systems. The PB3 generates a nominal nameplate capacity rating of up to 3 kilowatts (“kW”) of peak power during recharging of the onboard batteries. Power generation is deployment-site dependent, as wave activity impacts power generation. Our energy storage system (“ESS”) has a capacity of up to a nominal 150 kW-hours to meet specific application requirements.
The PB3 is designed to generate power for use independent of the power grid in offshore locations. The hull consists of a main spar structure compliantly moored to the seabed and surrounded by a floating annular structure that can freely move up and down in response to the passage of the waves. The PTO system includes a mechanical actuating system, an electrical generator, a power electronics system, our control system, and our ESS which is sealed within the hull. As ocean waves pass the PB3, the mechanical stroke action created by the rising and falling of the waves is converted into rotational mechanical energy by the PTO, which in turn, drives the electric generator. The power electronics system then conditions the electrical output which is collected within an ESS.
The operation of the PB3 is controlled by our customized, proprietary control system. The control system uses sensors and an onboard computer to continuously monitor the PB3 subsystems. We believe that this ability to optimize and manage the electric power output of the PB3 is a significant advantage of our technology. In the event of large storm waves, the control system automatically locks the PB3, and electricity generation is suspended. However, the load center (either the on-board payload or one in the vicinity of the PB3) may continue to receive power from the ESS. When wave heights return to normal operating conditions, the control system automatically unlocks the PB3 and electricity generation and ESS replenishment recommences. This safety feature helps to prevent the PB3 from being damaged by storms.
A single MDAS equipped PB3 can monitor vessel traffic, with or without AIS turned on, across a specific offshore area of interest, with the ability to utilize multiple surveillance assets together over large ocean areas giving end-users visibility into potentially damaging environmental or illegal activities. Customized solutions are also available including the addition of subsea sensors to monitor for acoustic signatures, tsunami activity, and water quality.
hybrid PowerBuoy®
The hybrid PowerBuoy® (“hybrid PB”) is an alternative platform to the PB3 capable of utilizing solar and wind power. The hybrid PB is capable of providing reliable power in remote offshore locations, regardless of ocean wave conditions. We believe this product is complementary to the PB3 as it addresses a broader spectrum of customer deployment needs, including low-wave and nearshore environments, with the potential for greater product integration within each customer project. The hybrid PB is intended to provide a stable energy platform for our MDAS solution, and for agile deployment of subsea power applications, such as a surface communications hub for electric remotely operated vehicles (“eROV”) and autonomous underwater vehicles (“AUV”) used for underwater inspections and short-term maintenance, and subsea equipment monitoring and control. The design has a high payload capacity for surveillance and communications equipment, with the capability of being tethered to subsea payloads such as batteries, or with a conventional anchor mooring system. Energy is stored in onboard lithium ion batteries which can power subsea and topside payloads. As with the PB3, the control system uses sensors and an onboard computer to continuously monitor the hybrid PB subsystems. The hybrid PB is designed to be able to operate over a broad range of temperature and ocean wave conditions. It has a 30kW-hour battery system and carries up to 1.2MW-hour energy when combined with the current onboard propane storage system. We are also developing another hybrid system with increased solar capacity and increased battery storage with the option of adding incremental wind turbine power generation, replacing the propane system.
Subsea Battery
Our subsea battery is complementary to both the PB3 and hybrid PB products and can be deployed together with our PowerBuoys® or as a standalone unit. It offers customers the option of placing additional modular and expandable energy storage on the seabed near existing, or to be installed, subsea equipment. Our pressure-tested lithium-ion phosphate subsea batteries supply power that can enable subsea equipment, sensors, communications and AUV and eROV recharge. Our PB3 and hybrid PB are complimentary to the subsea batteries by providing a means for recharging during longer term deployments, or the batteries can be used independently for shorter term deployments.
The subsea battery provides both long or short-term power supply from its integrated energy storage system, enabling us to supply into a range of industries and applications, from backup power to critical subsea infrastructure to continuous operation of subsea equipment, such as electric valves. The base design of the subsea battery has a nominal 100kW-hours of available energy storage and is designed to operate in a water depth of up to 500 meters. It comes installed on a ready deployable subsea skid suitable for installation on the seabed. The subsea battery can be integrated into other subsea equipment on land prior to deployment.
Strategic Consulting Services
The focus of our Strategic Consulting Services is on delivering value to our customers in the areas of ocean engineering, structural and dynamic analysis, Front End Engineering and Design (“FEED”) studies, and motion simulation. These services can be integrated in support of our broader Power and/or Data as a Service solutions, utilizing our products or on an independent basis for third party clients. In the near term, we will focus on increasing our market share in the offshore wind market, the broader floating foundation design market, as well as with our offshore energy customers.
We intend to continue to grow our service sectors and strengthen our solutions through internal developments, partnerships, and potential acquisitions. Our Strategic Consulting Services were materially expanded with the acquisition of 3dent Technology, LLC (“3Dent”), in February 2021. Our team of dedicated consultants/designers has expertise in structural engineering, hydrodynamics and naval architecture. Consulting services include simulation engineering, software engineering, concept design and motion analysis. We also offer a full range of high-level offshore engineering to offshore wind developers, offshore construction companies, drilling contractors, major oil companies, service companies, shipyards, and engineering firms. For example, we advise offshore drill rig owners, including owners of floaters, jackups, and lift boats. The Company saw an increase in consulting services activity for conventional offshore energy and for offshore wind projects in the second half of fiscal 2022.
Strategy and marketing
Our strategy includes developing integrated solutions and services, including autonomous and cloud-based delivery systems for ocean data and predictive analytics to provide actionable intelligence for our clients. We believe that having demonstrated the capability of our solutions, we can advance our product and services and gain further adoption from our target markets. Our marketing efforts are focused on offshore locations that require a cost-efficient solution for renewable, reliable, and persistent power, data collection, and communications, either by supplying electric power to payloads that are integrated directly with our products or located in its vicinity, such as on the surface, the seabed, or in the water column. Our recent projects have been in the offshore energy and science and research industries.
Based on our market research and publicly available data, including but not limited to the 2019 DOE Report: Exploring Opportunities for Marine Renewable Energy in Maritime Markets (the “Powering the Blue Economy Report”) Report, the Westwood Global Energy World ROV Operations Forecast 2019-2023, we believe there is an increasing need for our products and services in maritime domain awareness applications and numerous other markets.
Potential customers include, but are not limited to, defense and security, offshore oil and gas, science and research, and offshore wind markets, as well as government applications in border security, vessel tracking, fishery protection and monitoring of marine protected areas. For example, autonomously monitoring and surveying offshore wind farm lease areas would enable developers to collect data needed to support environmental impact studies with low carbon emissions. This could be done with buoys and vehicles.
Competitive Advantages
We continue to commercialize our current and future products and solutions by targeting customers in our principal markets (defense and security, offshore oil and gas, science and research, and offshore wind, as well as government applications in border protection, fishery protection and marine protected areas) that require resident, semi-resident, or roaming platforms. Our platforms provide stable and reliable power sources in nearshore and remote offshore locations for short and long-term deployments. We believe that our solutions and our existing commercial relationships provide the following competitive advantages in our target markets:
● Numerous applications within multiple major market segments. We have designed our solutions to have multiple offshore applications that can be used globally by customers. Our WAM-V® autonomous vehicles are designed for inshore and offshore deployments as fully or semi-autonomous systems and can operate in force multiplier mode. Our vehicles can support customized subsea and surface payloads, including other remotely operated or autonomous systems such as aerial drones and remotely operated vehicles (“ROV’s”). Multiple applications exist in the hydrographic survey market, across a range of industries including offshore wind and oceanographic monitoring. Our PB3 is designed for longer-term deployment in moderate to high ocean wave climates. Our hybrid PB is designed to meet the needs of customers with projects in low sea state locations and/or those requiring shorter-term deployments. We believe our subsea battery enables persistent power to be delivered from the seabed to support autonomous, all-electric subsea operations. Together, all these products can be integrated to provide customized power solutions for our customers. Our PowerBuoy® platforms can also act as persistent or short term self-powered solution platforms for payloads, such as our MDA package which can provide real-time perimeter security, vessel tracking and area surveillance for government defense, fishery protection, and offshore energy applications.
● Considerable life-cycle cost savings over current solutions for many applications. Our PB3 is designed to operate over extended intervals between required maintenance activities. We believe that our PB3 reduces costs over multi-year operations. These cost savings are mostly due to reduced vessel and personnel servicing activities. For short term deployments, our hybrid PB is a cost-efficient means of providing MDA and subsea power solutions. Our subsea battery can provide power to sea floor systems when combined with either the PB3 or hybrid for power regeneration, thus reducing or, in some cases, eliminating the need for manned vessels to replace or recharge expended subsea batteries during mission life. Our WAM-V® vehicles displace carbon and capital intensive manned vessels, enabling savings to be realized even during short term deployments.
● Real-time data communications. Our systems can be equipped with a variety of communications equipment, such as 5G, 4G LTE, satellite, VHF, and Wi-Fi, which enables the transmission of data on a frequent or near-continuous basis. We believe that more frequent data communication could enable an end-user to more quickly and proactively make data-driven decisions which could result in economic advantages. Real-time data communications are an essential component of our WAM-V® operations and our MDA payload, allowing continued autonomous remote monitoring of marine traffic.
● Modular and scalable designs. Our WAM-Vs® exist in three primary sizes, 8, 16, and 22 feet, and many of the design components are common across the sizes, allowing for integration of different payloads and adaption of the payload platforms for larger equipment. All sizes can be adapted to suit different propulsion methods. Our PB3 and hybrid PB are designed with a modular energy storage systems which allows us to tailor its configuration to specific application requirements, including expansion of energy storage capacity, potentially allowing for a more customized solution and potential cost savings for our customers. We believe that the modular design of our subsea battery enables clients to specify larger energy storage than would be possible with just buoys and have this placed at the seabed and near existing electric subsea equipment.
● Integrated Designs. All of our products will be designed to operate with each other in mesh or array setups. We are commercializing our existing MDA payload to operate on WAM-Vs® and believe that future integration of docking stations for WAM-Vs® into our PowerBuoys® will provide additional solutions for our customers.
● Flexible electrical, mechanical and communication interfaces for sensors. The WAM-V®, PB3, and hybrid PB can be equipped with payloads, either mounted on or within the platforms, or tethered to the platforms. The PowerBuoys® have mechanical and electrical interfaces which allow for simplified integration of payloads, creating flexibility for the end-user. The stable platforms of the WAM-Vs® allow for a broad range of subsea and surface sensors and assets to be integrated. Flexible interfaces reduce cost through simplified integration and deployment.
● Reduced carbon emission, environmentally benign system design. Our PB3 emits no carbon during operation. We further believe that our PB3 does not present significant risks to marine life, nor does it emit pollutants, and therefore has minimal environmental impact. Our electric WAM-Vs® primary source of energy is from batteries, thus enabling zero emission operations. WAM-Vs® have been demonstrated as suitable for sensitive marine area operations due to their shallow draft and zero emission profile.
● Ocean and factory-tested technology. We have deployed more than 70 WAM-Vs® to date across the world for commercial customers and government agencies. Our WAM-Vs® are designed to operate in a broad range of oceanic conditions and regions. On-location maintenance is designed into the WAM-Vs®. Our PB3 is designed to be durable, with a three-year interval between required maintenance activities. The PB3 has maintained operational performance through hurricanes, tropical storms and North Sea winter storms and has been successfully deployed for several clients. The hybrid PB has been demonstrated in the Atlantic off the coast of New Jersey. The subsea battery has been pressure-tested to its design depth at the Deep Ocean Test Facility in Annapolis, Maryland. Further, we continue to focus on standardizing manufacturing and production testing procedures and work closely with our supply base to ensure production repeatability.
● Prior commercial relationships enabled the development of our technology. Our prior and existing relationships with a broad range of government agencies, including, inter alia, the U.S. Navy, U.S. Department of Energy (“DOE”), U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and NOAA, and our prior and existing relationships with commercial entities have allowed us to further develop our solutions for a variety of needs in various industries. We believe these relationships have helped position us within the public and private sectors for future commercial opportunities, which we believe enhances our market visibility and attractiveness to our prospective customers.
● Domestic Supply Chain. Our strategy is to utilize domestic supply chain sources, when available, to improve operations and collaboration with our supply partners. We believe this strategy reduces some of our exposure to the global sourcing and supply chain uncertainties that exist in the current environment relating to the impact of COVID-19 as described elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Our Target Markets
The Company takes a rigorous approach to market evaluation. Utilizing publicly available and purchased data, we evaluate total addressable market sizes. We apply screening criteria to narrow our focus within these markets and identify sub-segments and associated service addressable market sizes. These market evaluations are updated on an ongoing basis throughout the year and more formally twice annually in line with our financial calendar. In 2019 the DOE released the Powering the Blue Economy Report. The report described eight non-grid applications where renewable marine energy could provide consistent, reliable power. The identified marine energy applications are ocean observation, underwater vehicle charging, marine aquaculture, marine algae, seawater mining, seawater desalination, coastal resiliency and disaster recovery, and isolated communities. We have been focused on addressing the energy needs of many of these applications (e.g., ocean observation, underwater vehicle charging), and other offshore applications (e.g., maritime domain awareness, well monitoring and powering subsea equipment control systems).
Defense and Security
Our MDAS provides the ideal understanding of the global maritime domain impacting the defense and security markets by generating actionable intelligence from the sea. This modular, standalone solution can be deployed across multiple platforms and provides remote, autonomous monitoring that enables enforcement of maritime law in dangerous and remote ocean environments to improve safety at sea. Applications include port security, maritime border protection, and illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing protection, among others. Using an integrated suite of monitoring components and data communications and analysis software, our MDAS can enable 24/7, real-time, unmanned offshore monitoring capabilities.
We believe that our PB3 is uniquely positioned to be used to provide power and communications for multiple applications within the defense and security markets. The PB3’s ability to power multiple payloads may be an attractive feature for these markets, as their systems can be easily integrated into other PowerBuoy® applications allowing their operation to be concealed. One example of an application for domestic and international defense departments and defense contractors includes forward deployed energy and communications outposts (which is a current U.S. Department of Defense program), both above and below sea surface, as indicated in the completed study for the U.S. Navy’s Naval Postgraduate School’s Sea, Land, Air, Military Research Initiative (“SLAMR”). PB3’s enabled with our MDAS provide actionable intelligence from 24/7/365 radar and AIS vessel tracking (including “dark vessels”), automatic notifications and vessel warnings, real-time visual and Infra-Red video surveillance, with an integrated command and control user interface. Other examples of applications include perimeter security, early detection and warning systems, remote sensing stations, high frequency radar, sonar, electro-optical and infrared sensors for maritime security, network communications systems, and unmanned underwater vehicle docking stations.
In addition, our WAM-V® is an ideal platform servicing multiple applications within the defense and security markets, including high value asset protection, marine domain awareness, security perimeter, mine counter measures and explosive ordinance disposal, anti-submarine warfare, and border security. Multiple WAM-V’s® can also autonomously work together to provide a security perimeter and coordinate to intercept suspicious vessels and provide valuable information before the threat gets near the protected asset. WAM-Vs® can coordinate to intercept suspicious vessels and provide valuable information before the threat gets near the protected asset. The portability of the WAM-V® provides quick relocation of the entire system by air, sea or ground and the scalability of the WAM-V® technology means that a common platform can be used for multiple missions with varying requirements. Our platforms and systems are designed to be operated in compliance with our customers’ and our internal cybersecurity standards and integrate with our customers’ command and control systems (“C2”). Additionally, we actively manage cybersecurity at the corporate level.
IUU fishing has become a global issue with both environmental and economic consequences. According to a report published in Science Advances by the American Association for the Advancement of Science in February 2020, it is estimated the global economic impact from illegal fishing to be as high as $50 billion. Most exclusive economic zone monitoring is done by offshore patrol vessels (“OPV”), which is one of the fastest growing naval product markets with over 1,200 OPVs in service currently. We believe that our autonomous surveillance solution, which can be combined with satellite imagery, from our WAM-V®, can deliver substantial economic impact to governments over incumbent solutions in securing remote fisheries and MPAs. In the USA specifically, IUU fishing is considered a major maritime threat by the Department of Homeland Security.
Offshore Oil and Gas
We believe the offshore oil and gas industry is undergoing a significant transformation as it continues to invest in new technologies that enable carbon reduction, cost savings, and the electrification and digitization of operations. There are over 10,000 offshore oil and gas platforms worldwide, including exploration, production, reservoir management, and sites pending decommissioning based on information from organizations such as the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (“BOEM”) and industry organizations and publications. Driven by the growing demand for electrification, we believe that we have opportunities to implement one or more PB3s at some of these sites to displace current power solutions or augment existing technologies. Customer feedback obtained through engineering studies with multiple oil and gas customers has helped identify target applications for the PB3 - namely, temporary power for fields experiencing umbilical degradation and subsea docking stations for future resident ROV/AUV applications for inspection, maintenance, and repair. In addition, according to a 2019 Rystad Energy report, Norway is estimated to have 40% of its oil and gas production from electrified fields by 2015, as well as a growing desire for decarbonization and autonomous operations. Similarly, the market for remote and autonomous charging of subsea assets, such as ROVs and AUVs, is rapidly taking shape. Based on various reports, other applications in the oil and gas market include providing power to unmanned platforms and area surveillance during decommissioning activities. Although estimates vary in these reports, they generally point towards more than 2,000 platforms (and corresponding wells) that need to be decommissioned over the next 10 years across the globe. We see this market materializing primarily in the North Sea and regions such as Brazil and Australia. Furthermore, there is an increasing market demand for providing interim power solutions for tie-backs where umbilicals are exhibiting failures. This is evidenced by the interest in the PB3 technology demonstrated by the DeepStar and Harbour Energy feasibility studies completed by us to evaluate the use of PB3s in this application. These studies have helped us further identify specific applications in which the PB3 can reliably provide interim power for fields experiencing umbilical degradation. In addition, we believe the survey capability afforded by our WAM-V’s® is perfectly suited to serve the survey needs of the oil and gas industry. WAM-V® stability produces excellent sonar data quality in higher sea conditions than comparably sized vessels and can be used as a force multiplier to existing manned assets or as the sole deployment tool. WAM-V’s® can be outfitted with various sonar solutions depending on requirements and identify any underwater obstacles or hazards.
Marine Charting
Since 2019, WAM-Vs have been used in support of nautical charting efforts for NOAA-backed projects in the Great Lakes and Western Alaska. WAM-V’s® are teamed up with crewed assets to provide a force multiplier capability when compared to a crewed assets. This capability improves the production efficiency of the project as well as lowers the overall carbon footprint.
Science and Research
The science and research market provides environmental intelligence to the entire ocean enterprise, which supports ocean measurement, observation and forecasting, and is an important provider of information to maritime commerce and the entire “blue economy.” Maritime commerce and the scientific community depend on information in areas such as meteorology, climate change, ocean currents, and biological processes to inform operations and development. These groups often require a power and communications solution in remote offshore locations. Additionally, the increased interest in protecting marine habitats offers opportunities to collaborate with governments and NGOs to monitor marine sanctuaries.
Offshore Wind and Other Markets
Opportunities also exist in other markets such as supporting offshore wind farm development and aquaculture. Based on an article in the 2021 edition of the Offshore Wind Market by the US Department of Energy, the US offshore wind energy and product development pipeline grew to a potential generating capacity of 35,324 megawatts in 2020.
The offshore wind fleet is forecast to grow 15-fold by 2040 and move further offshore with Europe alone connecting over 500 turbines in 2019. While these turbines develop significant power, there are opportunities pre-installation of the turbines to autonomously collect ocean data during the early stages and monitoring of marine habitats during construction. There are also opportunities to support ongoing survey work once wind farms are operational to mitigate carbon emissions and to provide communication stations for aerial drones providing maintenance materials. Furthermore, the U.S. recently approved the permits for the first major utility scale offshore wind farm. Providing wave power solutions to utility scale renewable developments offers an attractive proposition to support renewable power and autonomous operations. Our solutions can support aquaculture development with systems such as species escape tracking, effluent monitoring, and other water quality considerations.
Our WAM-V’s® are used to perform sonar surveys that support the marine infrastructure required for offshore wind development and installation. They can also assist during the planning and environmental permitting phase including metocean and environmental data and mammal tracking. We can also protect operations through Maritime Domain Awareness to monitor operations and vessel traffic and motion data analysis for predictive maintenance and safety.
We also provide offshore engineering, consulting, and design services for offshore wind, drilling contractors, defense contractors, construction yards, engineering firms, and oil and gas, wave energy, and marine construction and service companies including design review, forensic investigation, and expert witness services.
Business Strategy
During fiscal 2022, we advanced our marketing programs, products, and solutions. We have made progress in transitioning from an R&D focused organization to more robust commercialization efforts and we are moving further into the ocean data as a service market. We intend to build on these efforts by introducing additional processes and making investments in appropriate human capital to target potential customers more effectively from demand generation to close of contract. In addition we are focusing on customer care and service efforts to increase repeat business opportunities. This strategy was further enhanced by our acquisition of MAR in November 2021.
The majority of the Company’s potential customers are in areas of maritime domain awareness, hydrographic survey, and IUU fishing to support persistent surveillance. These are largely for customers in the United States where the end use may be both domestic and abroad. Further, the Company’s recent acquisition of MAR provides an unmanned surface vehicle platform for use in oil & gas, renewable energy, hydrographic survey, and security and defense markets largely in North America and Europe.
Historically, demonstration projects have been a requisite step towards broad solution deployment and revenues associated with specific applications like our New Jersey MDAS test array as part of our Data as a Service solution. A proposal phase typically lasts from three months to two years. During the demonstration project specification, negotiation and evaluation period, we are often subject to the prospective customer’s vendor qualification process, which entails substantial due diligence of the Company and its capabilities. Such demonstrations are often a required step prior to leasing and may include negotiation of standard terms and conditions. Many proposals contain provisions which would provide the option to purchase or lease of our PowerBuoy® or WAM-V® product upon successful conclusion of the demonstration project. The Company has successfully demonstrated the capabilities of many of its solutions on its own or in customers sponsored evaluation projects and remains focused on further demonstrations to build customer awareness and confidence and to drive sales.
The Company is pursuing a long-term growth strategy to expand its market value proposition while growing the Company’s revenue base. This strategy includes partnerships with leading companies and organizations in adjacent and complementary markets. We continue to develop our PowerBuoy® and WAM-V® products for use in offshore power, data acquisition, and real-time data communications applications, and in order to achieve this goal, we are pursuing the following business objectives:
● Integrated turn-key solutions, purchases or leases. We believe our Data and Power as a Service solutions, together with our platforms, are well suited to enable uncrewed, autonomous (non-grid connected) offshore applications, such as topside and subsea surveillance and communications, subsea equipment monitoring, early warning systems platform, subsea power and buffering, and weather and climate data collection. We have investigated and realized market demand for some of these solutions and we intend to sell and/or lease our products to these markets as part of these broader integrated solutions. Additionally, we intend to provide services associated with our solution offerings such as paid engineering studies, value-added engineering, maintenance, remote monitoring and diagnostics, application engineering, planning, training, project management, and marine and logistics support required for our solution life cycle. We continue to increase our commercial capabilities through new hires in sales, engineering, product development, safety, and application support, and through engagement of expert market consultants in various geographies. As our MDAS development continues, we expect that this will also include data and cloud services.
● Expand customer system solution offerings through new complementary products that enable shorter and more cost-efficient deployments. We are continuously improving our technology solutions. The hybrid PB is highly complementary to the PB3 by providing the Company with additional ways to address a broader spectrum of customer deployment needs, including low-wave environments, with the potential for greater system integration within each customer project. The hybrid PB is intended for deployments for which the PB3 is not optimal, including shorter term missions and low wave environments. In addition, we have future plans to integrate PB3 and WAM-V® capabilities, including the possibility of adding recharging capabilities to our PB3’s, and MDAS capabilities to our WAM-V’s®, thus extending our reach and providing both fixed and mobile MDAS offerings to our customers.
The Company has also finished the development of a subsea battery system that is complementary to the Company’s PowerBuoy® products. The subsea battery system offers the possibility of creating a sea floor energy storage solution for remote offshore operations. These subsea battery systems contain lithium-ion batteries, which provide high power density to supply power to subsea equipment, sensors, communications, and the recharging of AUVs and eROVs. Ideal for many remote offshore customer applications, these subsea battery systems are designed to be safe, high performance, cost-efficient, and quickly deployable.
Our WAM-V’s® are easily and economically shipped via land, air, or sea, and their modular design enables us to quickly reduce their size for storage or shipment. The optional folding features further reduces the footprint by as much as 75% and as a result, a 20’ container can hold four 16 foot WAM-V®s. To integrate our solutions and add roaming as an option or enhancement to our MDAS, we are advancing developments to further integrate MDAS into the WAM-V® platform and develop additional autonomy capabilities.
● Focus sales and marketing efforts in global markets. While we are marketing our products and services globally, we have focused on several key markets and applications, including U.S. and foreign defense and security applications with our MDAS offering; subsea power for oil and gas; and the hydrographic survey market in U.S., Europe, Canada and Australia with regard to our WAM-V’s®. We believe that each of these areas has demand for our solutions, sizable end market opportunities, and high levels of industrialization and economic development. We have an office in Houston, Texas that enables us to further support our customers and strengthen our dialogue with our solution partners. During fiscal 2022, we opened an office in Richmond, California through our acquisition of MAR. During fiscal 2022, we also further solidified our European footprint, concentrating on our North Sea resource. We are in active discussions with potential partners in North and South America, the Caribbean, Southeast Asia and West Africa. We are also participating in a global study for a major oil and gas operator to use our PowerBuoys® to help reduce their carbon footprint, with applications in Gulf of Mexico, the North Sea, and APAC.
● Expand our relationships in key market areas through strategic partnerships and collaborations. We believe that strategic partners are an important part of expanding visibility to our products. Partnerships and collaborations can be used to improve the development of overall integrated solutions, create new market channels, expand commercial know-how and geographic footprint, and bolster our product delivery capabilities. We have formed such a relationship with several well-known groups, and we continue to seek other opportunities to collaborate with application experts from within our selected markets. These partnerships have helped us source services, such as installation expertise, and products, such as MDA enabling equipment, to meet our development and customer obligations. We have been actively pursuing additional opportunities to bring in-house skills, capabilities, and solutions that are complementary to our strategy and enable us to scale more quickly, including, for example, our acquisition of 3Dent and MAR.
● Partnering with fabrication, deployment and service support. In order to minimize our capital requirements as we scale our business, we intend to optimize and utilize state of the art fabrication, anchoring, mooring, cabling supply, and in some cases, deployment of our products and solutions. We believe this domestically distributed manufacturing and assembly approach enables us to focus on our core competencies and ensure a cost-effective product by leveraging a larger more established supply base. We continue to seek strategic partnerships regarding servicing of our products and solutions.
● Survey and security market applications. With the addition of our WAM-V® products, we are able to increase our ability to lease vehicles specifically to support shoreline and off-shore survey markets as well as security applications while integrating MDA into these solutions.
Marketing and Sales
We continue to enhance our marketing capabilities across our target markets, and we are actively marketing our products and solutions. We currently use a direct sales force consisting of employees as well as expert consultants, particularly in geography. Because our solutions use technology that is not yet fully adopted by customers within our target markets in every case, we expect that the customer decision process will continue to include substantial time educating end-users and stakeholders, which may result in a continued lengthy sales cycle.
We have built a database of companies and organizations who have offshore operations. We market our products and solutions to these companies and entities, prioritizing those who we believe are most likely to want remote offshore power and data services, including for example, offshore oil and gas companies. We also see opportunities for defense and security applications such as maritime domain awareness solutions that require autonomous offshore power, data gateways and robust data acquisition storage and communication systems.
One of the primary ways we showcase our Company, products and services is through demonstrations, conferences, and trade shows. We utilize our database to select conferences and trade shows where we will have the most effective visibility to our potential clients. Since early 2020, COVID-restrictions have significantly impacted our attendance as, many conferences and trade shows were cancelled, rescheduled, or held virtually. In fiscal 2022, OPT presented at a number of these conferences virtually and in-person. During fiscal 2023, we have plans to attend and present at various demonstrations, conferences, and trade shows in the U.S., Europe, and Asia.
Additionally, we seek to enter into strategic relationships to develop application solutions with commercial and military sensor and equipment manufacturers.
Competition
We expect to compete with other providers in the Data as a Service, Power as a Service, and Strategic Consulting industries. Our Data as a Service solution competes with other data acquisition companies in a variety of industries, from sensor and measurement equipment providers to other providers of autonomous vehicles.
Our Power as a Service solution competes with other offshore autonomous power sources, primarily consisting of subsea batteries, solar and fossil-fuel power sources, where many of the providers are substantially larger than us and may have access to greater financial resources. Incumbent sources of offshore power may also represent established and reliable power sources and may have already gained customer acceptance. Our ability to compete successfully for business from applications seeking offshore power will depend on (a) our ability to produce and store energy reliably and at a total cost that is competitive with or lower than that of other sources, and (b) the demonstrated reliability of our products and positive customer perception of our company. We also may have the opportunity to cooperate with other solution providers, such as other suppliers of subsea batteries where our PowerBuoys® could provide recharging capabilities or other providers of autonomous surface or underwater vessels where our PowerBuoys® could provide charging and enhanced communications capabilities.
Competition for the WAM-V® product line includes companies marketing solutions as autonomous surface vehicles (“ASVs”) and uncrewed surface vehicles (“USVs”) which can also be referred to as unmanned surface vehicles. There are several established competitors in this space with the pace of new entrants increasing in-line with the expanding market opportunities.
The vast majority of the companies in the DOE’s wave energy converter database are small, early-stage companies with a limited number of employees that do not have our in-ocean validation experience. Only a few of these companies have conducted testing similar to us, such as accelerated life testing and extensive wave tank testing on small-scale models of their devices. We believe our in-ocean experience is critical towards proving the reliability, survivability and performance of any wave energy system, which we believe our future customers will require before adopting any wave generated energy solution. We believe our experience gained through full scale in-ocean deployments, coupled with other types of factory and laboratory testing, and our resulting understanding of risks and failure modes provides us with an advantage compared to potential wave energy competitors.
Based on market and industry observations, we believe there are only a small number of companies that are developing systems to compete in the offshore autonomous power market; however, their technologies are in earlier stages of development with limited commercial deployments. Through our ongoing product development and building upon our years of commercial deployment data, we believe that we continue to maintain a first mover advantage in the smaller scale autonomous offshore power market.
Our Strategic Consulting Services group competes with offshore engineering firms. These include large and small engineering firms that specialize in naval architecture, structural engineering, and hydrodynamics as applied to the design of jack-ups, wind turbine installation vessels, and semi-submersibles.
We continuously monitor non-traditional competitive threats, such as multi-domain drones and artificial intelligence tools utilizing satellite data. We are in active discussions with companies in these markets to evaluate synergistic solution development where we believe there may be a demand for cooperative solutions.
Commercial Activities
We continue to seek new strategic relationships and further develop our existing partnerships. We collaborate with companies that have developed or are developing in-ocean applications requiring a persistent source of power that is also capable of real time data collection, processing and communication, to address potential customer needs. The table below shows the percentage of the Company’s revenues derived from customers whose revenues accounted for at least 10% of the Company’s consolidated revenues for at least one of the periods indicated:
Twelve months ended April 30,
Customer
Transocean Ltd. 15 % - %
Valaris PLC 12 % - %
Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. 11 % - %
United States Department of Energy 11 % - %
Enel Green Power Chile, LTDA 9 % 61 %
Eni S.p.A. 1 % 22 %
Other (no other customers over 10%) 41 % 17 %
100 % 100 %
In order to achieve success in ongoing commercializing efforts for our products, we must expand our customer base and obtain commercial contracts to lease or sell our solutions and services to customers. Our potential customer base for our solutions includes various public and private entities, and agencies that require remote offshore power. We expect an increased portion of our revenues will be from the lease or sale of our products and related maintenance as well as consultative and other services.
Current and Recent Customers
● Our November 2021 MAR acquisition has led to contracts to build WAM-Vs® for Brigham Young University, Nippon Kaiyo, Australian Defense, S.T. Hudson, and Applied Research Lab at University of Hawaii, and has resulted in leased WAM-V’s to Sulmara and other commercial customers and universities.
● In June 2021, the Company was notified of a pre-award for a DOE Small Business Innovation Research program (“SBIR”) to support the development of the next generation of our wave energy conversion systems. We then initiated a subsequent 9-month follow-on project which began in the second quarter of fiscal 2022.
● Throughout fiscal 2022, our Strategic Consulting Services continued to generate revenues from both existing and new customers of approximately $979,000. Notably, we advanced several large projects in the pipeline with larger oil and gas operators and offshore wind developers.
● In November 2020, the Company entered into an agreement with the Offshore Operators Committee (“OOC”) to provide engineering and technical services for a new project under the DeepStar Global Technology Consortium Program. This project, which was completed in July 2021, showcased our Power as a Service solution among well-known operators in the industry.
● In October 2020, the Company entered into an agreement with Adams Communication & Engineering Technology (“ACET”) to conduct a feasibility study for the evaluation of a PB3 power and 5G communications solution in support of the U.S. Navy Naval Postgraduate School’s SLAMR initiative. The study was completed, and the Company is currently in active discussions with the SLAMR Consortium on the project’s next steps on providing the data and power solution. The SLAMR initiative is ongoing and in October 2021, the SLAMR Consortium released additional information about the project into the market.
● In March 2020, Eni exercised their option from the March 2018 contract to extend their lease of the PB3 for an additional 18 months. The initial provision in the March 2018 agreement provided for a minimum 24-month contract that included an 18-month PB3 lease and associated project management. In November 2020, Eni retrieved the PB3 and returned it to shore because of a mooring issue. The PB3 has since been returned to our headquarters in New Jersey and has completed its refurbishment and is being readied to deploy as part of our MDAS demonstration off the coast of New Jersey.
● In September 2019, we entered into two contracts with subsidiaries of Enel Green Power Chile, LTDA (“EGP”), which included the sale of a PB3 and the development and supply of a turn-key integrated Open Sea Lab (“OSL”) which was the Company’s first deployment off the coast of Chile. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, force majeure was declared in April 2020 and delayed the deployment. In March 2021, the Company resumed the deployment process and placed the PB3 in the water. During fiscal 2022, deployment of the PB3 was completed. Ongoing installation and commissioning activities of the OSL subsea equipment continue into fiscal 2023.
● In June 2018, we entered into a contract with Harbour Energy for the lease of a PB3 to be deployed in one of Harbour Energy’s offshore fields in the North Sea. During its deployment, the PB3 provided autonomous exclusion zone monitoring service during well decommissioning. In early March 2020 the Company and Harbour Energy retrieved the PB3. This PB3 has since been returned to our headquarters in New Jersey and is currently being refurbished to be redeployed. During the second quarter of fiscal 2022, we entered into a contract with Aker Solutions to support a study integrating the PB3 system to provide subsea power and communication for well monitoring for the next phase of Harbour Energy’s development plans.
Business Relationships
We believe that our solutions are best developed, sold, deployed, and maintained together with subject matter experts in their respective fields. This enables the Company to protect, maintain, and evolve our various platforms and integrate them with surface and subsea payloads. The Company has previously entered into business relationships focused on including, but not limited to, deployment and installations, sourcing of surface payloads, and integration with autonomous vehicles. To further develop the MDAS, we recently entered into strategic software and robotics partnerships with two software companies, Greensea Systems, Inc. and Fathom5. We believe the business relationships with Greensea and Fathom5 will further the development of our next-generation MDAS product for the maritime industrial market and governmental defense and security organizations.
Greensea Systems, Inc. is contributing to the Company’s MDAS by providing integration software, control software, autonomy and systems integration for the buoy sensor payload.
Fathom5 has designed and is building a customized industrial analytics platform to support the Company’s MDAS. The Fathom5 customized platform will integrate sensor technologies, combine data feeds, and provide a flexible plug-in analytic capability to apply artificial intelligence and machine learning to sensor feeds. Fathom5 is also building the user interface that will allow remote operators to control the MDAS payload and view sensor data in real time.
We also maintain active dialogue with several offshore deployment and marine operations partners in the North Sea and North America to support our projects.
Backlog
As of April 30, 2022, the Company’s backlog was $0.6 million. As of April 30, 2021, backlog was $0.2 million. Our backlog can include unfilled firm orders for our products and services from commercial or governmental customers. If any of our contracts were to be terminated, our backlog would be reduced by the expected value of the remaining terms of such contract.
The amount of contract backlog is not necessarily indicative of future revenue because modifications to or terminations of present contracts and production delays can provide additional revenue or reduce anticipated revenue. A substantial portion of our revenues is recognized using the input method used to measure completion over time of customer contracts, and changes in estimates from time to time may have a significant effect on revenue and backlog. Our backlog is also typically subject to large variations from time to time due to the timing of new awards.
Research and Development
Larger Power
We believe there is demand for larger power for applications in several markets. The continued electrification of the seabed, together with the increased volume of sensors and vehicles available on the market, requires larger power devices in the <20kW range.
We continue to innovate through our research and development efforts to bring to market devices with power ranges larger than the hybrid PB and including other wave energy converter platforms through partnerships with other wave power energy developers. In parallel, the Company is investigating larger power alternatives, in cooperation with design and installation contractors, and other technical resources. These efforts include further developments of our Mass on Spring Wave Energy Converter “MOSWEC”, which allows for greater modularity and decreased maintenance intervals.
MDAS
Expanding on our experience with our own initial prototype Marine Surveillance Solutions (“MSS”) system, we intend for the development of the next generation MDAS, which will combine radar, marine automatic identification system (“AIS”) and camera data with a custom developed command and control system to provide actionable information for our end users. We believe the sensor suite will be a combination of off-the-shelf components selected to optimize performance and cost.
This system could be utilized as a standalone node or in an array, which we believe will provide near real-time information about the marine activity within a customer’s area of interest.
PB3 PowerBuoy®
We engaged our resources to improve PB3 efficiency, reliability and power output, and improve manufacturability while reducing cost and complexity. Our recent efforts have been focused on reducing the cost of our PB3 systems and their deployment costs in order to balance customer cost with our solution value proposition. We continue to seek to increase the capabilities of our PB3 systems by designing flexible interfaces and rendering them sensor and payload agnostic. Further, we are working to integrate PB3 and WAM-V® capabilities by adding WAM-V recharging capabilities to our PB3’s and MDAS capabilities to our WAM-V’s®, thus extending WAM-V endurance, our reach, and providing both fixed and mobile MDAS offerings to our customers.
In fiscal year 2023, we plan to kick off the development of the next generation PowerBuoy®, which will incorporate lessons learned and customer feedback from various deployments of the PB3, hybrid, and other test buoys in an effort to optimize power generation through hybridization of renewable energy sources and lower installed cost of the system.
WAM-V
We will continue to develop the capabilities of the WAM-V 8, WAM-V 16, and WAM-V 22 variants for the marine survey and defense & security markets. Control systems development will continue to provide additional features based on feedback from existing customers as well as our gained experience in our Robotics as a Service (RaaS) offering. Additionally, we will continue to develop and enhance our obstacle detection and obstacle avoidance capabilities.
Intellectual Property
We believe that our experience differentiates us from other providers of Data as a Service, Power as a Service, and wave energy conversion technologies. As a result, our success depends in part on our ability to obtain and maintain proprietary protection for our products, technology and know-how, to operate without infringing upon the proprietary rights of others, and to prevent others from infringing upon our proprietary rights. Our policy is to protect our proprietary position by, among other methods, filing U.S. and foreign patent applications related to our proprietary technology, inventions and improvements that are important to the development of our business. We also rely on trade secrets, know-how, and continuous technological innovation and may rely on licensing opportunities to develop and maintain our proprietary position.
As of April 30, 2022, we have been issued 70 U.S. patents, of which 39 are active, 20 have expired and 11 were abandoned. Outside of the U.S., we have been issued 280 patents across 25 countries with 26 of the active U.S. patents having at least one corresponding issued foreign patent. We have not filed any additional U.S. patent application since June 10, 2021. Our patent portfolio includes patents and patent applications with claims directed to:
● System design, including buoy, battery chargers, generators, power take off, printed circuit boards, and wave energy convertor (“WEC”);
● WEC control systems;
● Wave power and thermal motor power conversion;
● Buoy anchoring and mooring design and power cable connection; and
● Wave WEC farm architecture.
The expiration dates for our issued U.S. patents range from 2023 to 2040. We do not consider any single patent or patent application that we hold to be material to our business. The patent positions of companies like ours are generally uncertain and involve complex legal and factual questions. Our ability to maintain and solidify our proprietary position for our technology will depend on our success in continuing to obtain effective patent claims and enforcing those claims once granted. In addition, certain technologies that we developed with U.S. federal government funding are subject to certain government rights as described in “Risk Factors - Risks Related to Intellectual Property.”
We use trademarks on nearly all our products and believe that having distinctive marks is an important factor in marketing our products. We have registered our PowerBuoy®, PB-Vue ®, PowerTower ®, Making Waves in Power ®, Talk on Water ®, and WAM-V® trademarks in the United States. Trademark ownership is generally of indefinite duration when marks are properly maintained in commercial use.
Regulation
Our products are subject to regulation in the U.S. and in foreign jurisdictions concerning, among other areas, site approval, use restrictions, and environmental approval and compliance. In order to encourage the adoption of offshore power solutions, many governments offer subsidies and other financial incentives and have mandated renewable energy targets, which some of our customers may be able to leverage. However, these subsidies, incentives and targets may not be applicable to our technology and therefore may not be available to our customers.
WAM-Vs are subject to a patchwork of rules and regulations in the U.S. and in foreign jurisdictions concerning the operation of autonomous and uncrewed surface vehicles. Often times, rules and regulations specific to autonomous, uncrewed, and/or unmanned surface vehicles do not exist or are not explicitly defined. We advise our customers to always follow the rules and regulations as they apply in the jurisdiction in which they are operating.
The renewable energy industry has also been subject to increasing regulation. As both the renewable energy industry and as the wave energy industries continue to evolve, we anticipate that wave energy technology and our PowerBuoys® and their deployment will be subject to increased oversight and regulation in accordance with international, national and local regulations relating to safety, site approval, and environmental protection.
Site Approval. In the U.S., federal agencies regulate the siting of long-term renewable energy projects and related-uses located on the outer continental shelf (“OCS”), which is generally more than three miles offshore. OCS projects longer than one-year in duration are regulated by the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (“BOEM”). For projects located within three miles of the U.S. shore regardless of duration, the adjacent state would be responsible for issuing a lease and other required authorizations for the location of the project. Generally, the same process applies to foreign sites where site approval is contingent on meeting both national and local regulatory and environmental requirements. In connection with issuing permits or leases enabling project use, the respective government agency often requires site restoration or other activities at the conclusion of the permit or lease period.
Environmental Approval, Compliance, and Health and Safety. We are subject to various foreign, federal, state and local environmental protection and health and safety laws and regulations governing, among other things: the generation, storage, handling, use and transportation of hazardous materials; the emission and discharge of hazardous materials into the ground, air or water; and the health and safety of our employees.
Subsidies and Incentives. Renewable energy subsidies and incentives are generally applicable only to electric generation and supply to the utility grid. However, our autonomous applications may result in a reduction of carbon emissions, which our potential customers may be able to publicize in their environmental stewardship reports.
Manufacturing
Our core in-house manufacturing activity includes the assembly, final systems integration and testing of our products and components, which is conducted at our New Jersey headquarters and at our Richmond, California facility.
Our corporate headquarters and manufacturing operations are located in Monroe Township, New Jersey. This facility offers approximately 56,000 square feet of manufacturing and office space and allows for expansion of our manufacturing capabilities and a move toward higher volume production of our solutions. During fiscal year 2022 we began the process of transferring the majority of the manufacturing activity related to our WAM-V’s from our Richmond, California facility to our New Jersey headquarters. This move is primarily related to allowing us to scale our WAM-V manufacturing using existing facilities, as the Richmond, CA facility is too small to support our expected growth plan. We believe our current manufacturing facilities are suitable, adequate and provide productive capacity for the Company.
Human Capital
The Company believes that its future success is dependent in part on its continued ability to attract, hire and retain qualified personnel. Therefore, investing in, developing and maintaining human capital is critical to our success. The Company is committed to provide its employees with a safe and healthy workplace. On April 30, 2022, the Company had 54 full-time employees as compared to 46 at April 30, 2021. None of the Company’s employees are covered by collective bargaining agreements. The Company is an equal opportunity employer. and as such provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, creed, ancestry, national origin, citizenship, sex or gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, and pregnancy-related conditions), gender identity or expression (including transgender status), sexual orientation, marital status, religion, age, disability, genetic information, service in the military, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws and ordinances. At OPT, we foster a culture of inclusion, embrace diversity, and seek to listen without judgement to all voices and opinions. Therefore, OPT is committed to creating and maintaining a workplace in which all employees have an opportunity to participate and contribute to the success of the business and are valued for their skills, experience, and unique perspectives. Association with OPT involves participation in a community where all people are recognized and rewarded on the basis of individual qualifications and abilities. This commitment is embodied in company policy and the way we do business at OPT and is an important principle of sound business management. We believe that providing our employees with the appropriate resources will allow our employees to use their creativity and talent to invent new solutions, meet new demands, and offer the most effective services/products in the industry.
The Company is committed to provide its employees with a healthy and safe work environment, which include policies to guide our efforts. We take a proactive approach to the identification and control of environment, health and safety hazards and risks. We work to continuously improve our Quality, Health, Safety, and Environment (“QHSE”) performance through methodologies that aim to prevent workplace injuries and illness, emphasis on quality production, and provide ongoing safety education to employees. On June 2, 2021, the Company achieved ISO 45001 certification Bureau Veritas (BV) for a 3-year term. ISO 45001 is an international occupation health and safety certification. We also recently passed our annual external audit from BV related to this certification. The safety management system provides procedures to enhance our safety profile and reduce incidents, so all of our employees go home safely every day. Our focus over the next year will be on implementing stop work authority, identification of hazards and risks whether at sea or in the shop, identification of lagging and leading indicators, and performance of quality investigations. Our long-term goal is to become a generative QHSE culture.
ESG
The Company recognizes the importance of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) as essential elements to its success, delivering products that help reduce our customers’ carbon emission and preserve our oceans’ natural resources and as such, its board of directors has established an Environmental and Sustainability Committee, which assists the Board in fulfilling its oversight responsibilities by assessing the effectiveness of the Company’s programs and initiatives that support environmental stewardship, social responsibility, and sustainability policies, programs, and practices of the Company. The Company is committed to delivering innovative products and solutions while simultaneously working with high integrity, quality, a strong governance culture and respect for our employees, customers, vendors and the people in the communities where we do business. The Company believes that consideration of ESG matters is important to how it, and its solutions and services affect the environments, communities and societies in which it operates around the world. By adhering to international, national, and local customs, we believe we meet our governance obligations from the environment to personnel to safety. Despite our size, the Company views itself as a responsible corporate citizen throughout the execution of its operations, as emphasized by its goal to provide low-carbon power and data solutions for offshore industries, scientific research, and territorial security. It is the Company’s goal that all products have minimal environmental impact footprint compared to alternative solutions. This includes minimizing the emissions for both our facilities and products, implementing and deploying a database to track our carbon savings, utilizing renewable energy to power offshore data solutions, and providing products and solutions that monitor sensitive ecological areas. Each deployed PB3 utilized in place of fossil fuel-based power in Power as a Service applications can displace four tonnes of carbon annually, or roughly the amount of carbon produced by two average automobiles. When combined with our MDAS for applications typically serviced by a manned guard vessel powered by diesel fuel, this can displace more than 300 tonnes of carbon for every 10 vessel days replaced, or the equivalent of removing more than 125 cars from the road.
In February 2022, the Company submitted an application for the NJ Clean Energy Program which offers free energy benchmarking to compare energy usage to other commercial buildings in similar industries and provide recommendation to improve efficiency. The Company is working with a case manager for the program and anticipates completion of the energy benchmarking report in the coming months. This report will include an energy usage score relative to similar commercial facilities in related industries and detailed information on implementing energy efficient technologies and available financial incentive programs available through the state program.
In parallel, the Company has initiated an environmental impact assessment on our products, starting with the PB3, with a focus on the potential of any environmental hazards of materials. Further data is being gathered around the PB3 to determine the risk to marine life including risk associated with our batteries and the potential use of propane in our hybrid PB. Our batteries contain no toxic or rare earth metals and have a minimal risk of fires or explosion. In the unlikely event that water comes into contract with live batteries, wireless remote operation allows for the immediate discharge of energy to mitigate the risk of electrolysis that could create an explosive mixture of hydrogen and oxygen within the buoy. Further research is being performed around hazardous materials and any other risks related to our WAM-V® product line, including risk associated with the batteries we use in this product.
Available Information
Our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and all amendments to those reports are made available free of charge through the Investor Relations section of the Company’s website (www.oceanpowertechnologies.com) as soon as practicable after such material is electronically filed with, or furnished to, the SEC. Material contained on our website is not incorporated by reference in this report. Our executive offices are located at 28 Engelhard Drive, Suite B, Monroe Township, New Jersey, 08831, and our telephone number is (609) 730-0400. The information on our website is not a part of this Annual Report. Our common stock was listed under the symbol “OPTT” on Nasdaq until June 2021, when the listing was transferred to the NYSE American. The public may also read and copy any materials that we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) at the SEC’s Public Reference Room at 100 F Street, NE, Washington, D.C. 20549. The public may obtain information on the operation of the Public Reference Room by calling the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330. The SEC also maintains an Internet website that contains reports and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC located at http://www.sec.gov.
Business Update Regarding COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic presented substantial health and economic risks, uncertainties and challenges to our business, the global economy and financial markets. During 2020 we started to experience some delays related to the impact of COVID-19 on the international supply chain. We were able to mitigate much of the impact by consuming not only internal inventory but also by expanding our supply base. While our supply chain is primarily domestically oriented with the majority of our products domestically sourced, we obtain some components from Asia and Europe. We use a combination of off-the-shelf components and equipment as well as custom developed parts. There have been a number of disruptions throughout the global supply chain which have impacted our development and manufacturing. As the global economy continues to open up, it is driving the demand for certain components. This has outpaced the return of the global supply chain to full production. Although we have been able to find alternatives for many component shortages without compromising our product standards or integrity, we experienced, and continue to experience, some delays and cost increases with respect to container shortages, ocean shipping and air freight. In addition, our key suppliers have experienced longer lead times and cost increases for raw materials and have experienced periods of interruption to production due to COVID-19 and its variants affecting manpower.
As of April 30, 2022, local manpower and similar COVID-related problems are starting to ease. Like others in the industry we continue to have concerns over component shortages, particularly for semiconductors, lithium-ion batteries and specialty metals, however, this has not prevented us from manufacturing our products. If spikes in COVID-19 and its variants occur in regions in which our supply chain operates, we could experience periodic interruptions or impacts due to delays in components and incur further freight price increases. We continue to monitor and adjust our operations, as appropriate. in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
You should carefully consider the following risk factors together with the other information contained in this Annual Report, and in prior periodic and current reports. If any of the following risks actually occur, they may materially harm our business and our financial condition and results of operations. In this event, the market price of our common stock could decline, and your investment could be lost.
Risks Related to Our Financial Condition
We have a history of operating losses and may not achieve or maintain profitability and positive cash flow.
We have incurred net losses since we began operations in 1994, including net losses of $18.9 million and $14.8 million in fiscal 2022 and 2021, respectively. As of April 30, 2022, we had an accumulated deficit of $253.8 million. Our losses to date have resulted primarily from costs incurred in our research and development programs and from our selling, general and administrative costs. As we continue to develop our proprietary technologies, we expect to continue to have a net loss and use of cash from operating activities unless or until we achieve positive cash flow from the commercialization of our products and services.
We do not know whether we will be able to successfully commercialize our products and services or whether we can achieve profitability. There is significant uncertainty about our ability to successfully commercialize our products in our targeted markets. Even if we do achieve commercialization of our products and services and become profitable, we may not be able to achieve or, if achieved, sustain profitability on a quarterly or annual basis.
We may not be able to raise sufficient capital to continue to operate our business.
Historically, we have funded our business operations through sales of equity securities. While we have raised approximately $80.6 million since April 30, 2020 and believe that this is sufficient to fund our operations for the foreseeable future, we do not know whether we will be able to secure additional funding if needed in the future or, if secured, whether the terms will be favorable to us or our investors. Our ability to obtain additional funding will be subject to several factors, including market conditions, our operating performance, litigation and investor sentiment. These factors may make additional funding unavailable, or the timing, dollar amount, and terms and conditions of additional funding unattractive.
If we issue additional securities to raise capital, our existing shareholders could experience dilution or may be subordinated to any rights, preferences or privileges granted to the new security holders. In particular, any new securities issued could have rights senior to those associated with our common stock and could contain covenants that could restrict our operations. Should the financing we require to sustain our working capital needs be unavailable or prohibitively expensive when we require it, our business, operating results, financial condition and prospects could be materially and adversely affected.
COVID-19 has, and could continue to, adversely affect the Company’s business, financial condition and results of operations.
The COVID-19 outbreak has caused significant disruption in the financial markets and supply chains both globally and in the U.S., as well as increased travel restrictions and disruption and shutdown of certain businesses in the U.S. and abroad, including disruptions to our own business. We may continue to experience impacts from changes in customer behavior, more employees working from home, and less frequent travel for sales and customer meetings, including dealing with potential regulatory limitations on domestic and international travel. Our business benefits from in-person demonstrations and sales meetings, which have been limited due to COVID-19. The extent to which COVID-19 impacts our results will ultimately depend on future developments and will include future actions which may be taken by governments and businesses to attempt to contain COVID-19.
Currency translation and transaction risk may adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our reporting currency is the U.S. dollar, and sometimes we incur costs in the local currency of countries in which our customers and suppliers are located. As a result, we are subject to currency translation risk. A percentage of our revenues have historically been generated outside the United States and can be denominated in foreign currencies of our customers. Changes in exchange rates between foreign currencies and the U.S. dollar could affect our revenues and cost of revenues and could result in exchange losses. We cannot accurately predict the impact of future exchange rate fluctuations on our results of operations. Currently, we do not engage in any exchange rate hedging activities and, as a result, any volatility in currency exchange rates may have an immediate adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Risks Related To Growth Of Our Business
If sufficient demand for our solutions and services or new products does not develop or takes longer to develop than we anticipate, our revenue generation will be limited, and it is unlikely that we will be able to achieve and, if achieved, then sustain profitability.
Even if wave energy and maritime domain awareness technology achieve broad commercial acceptance, our products, including our PowerBuoys® and WAM-V® autonomous surface vessels may not prove to be commercially viable technologies. We have invested a significant portion of our time and financial resources since our inception in the development of our PowerBuoys® but have not yet achieved successful large scale or profitable commercialization of our PowerBuoys®. We have also invested in the acquisition of MAR, and added the WAM-V® product line, but we have not achieved profitability of this product line. As we seek to manufacture, market, sell and deploy our PowerBuoys® and WAM-Vs® in greater quantities, we may encounter unforeseen hurdles that would limit the commercial viability of these products, including unanticipated manufacturing, deployment, operating, maintenance and other costs. Our target customers and we may also encounter technical obstacles to deploying, operating and maintaining PowerBuoys®, WAM-Vs®, or other products.
If demand for our products fails to develop sufficiently, it is unlikely that we will be able to grow our business or generate sufficient revenues to achieve and then sustain profitability.
In addition, if we are not successful in commercializing our new products, or are significantly delayed in doing so, our business, financial condition and results of operations will be adversely affected.
If we are unable to attract and retain management and other qualified personnel, we may not be able to achieve our business objectives.
Our success depends on the skills, experience and efforts of our management and other key product development, manufacturing, and sales and marketing employees. We cannot be certain that we will be able to attract, retain and motivate such employees. The loss of the services of one or more of these employees could have a material adverse effect on our business. There is a risk that we will not be able to retain or replace these key employees. Implementation of our business plans will be highly dependent upon our ability to hire and retain senior executives as well as talented staff in various fields of expertise.
We made several changes to our senior management team in fiscal 2022. Changes in senior management are inherently disruptive, and efforts to implement any new strategic or operating goals may not succeed in the absence of a long-term management team. Changes to strategic or operating goals stemming from the appointment of new executives may themselves prove to be disruptive. Periods of transition in senior management leadership are often difficult as new executives gain detailed knowledge of our operations. Cultural differences may also impact changes in strategy and style. Without consistent and experienced leadership, customers, employees, creditors, shareholders and others may lose confidence in us.
To be successful, we need to retain key personnel. Qualified individuals, including engineers, project managers and sales leadership, are in high demand, and we may incur significant costs to attract and retain them. All of our employees are at-will employees, which means they can terminate their employment relationship with us at any time, and their knowledge of our business and industry would be difficult to replace. If we lose the services of key personnel, or do not hire or retain other personnel for key positions, this could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.
If we are unable to effectively manage our growth, this could adversely affect our business and operations.
The scope of our operations to date has been limited, and we do not have experience operating on the scale that we believe may be necessary to achieve profitable operations. We added two acquisitions over the last two fiscal years, adding operations in Texas and California to our existing operations in New Jersey, without significantly increasing our support staff. Our current personnel, facilities, systems and internal procedures and controls may not be adequate to support our future growth plans, which we expect to include organic growth as well as additional acquisitions and partnerships. This factor, when combined with the technical complexity of some of our development efforts, may result in our inability to meet certain customer expectations or deadlines and could result in the amendment to, or termination of, customer contracts or relationships. To realize our desired growth, we may need to add sales, marketing and engineering offices in our existing and/or additional locations nationally or internationally, which may result in additional organizational complexity and cost.
To manage the expansion of our operations, we may be required to improve our operational and financial systems, procedures and controls, increase our manufacturing capacity and expand, train and manage our employee base, which may need to increase significantly if we are to be able to fulfill our current manufacturing and growth plans. Our management may also be required to maintain and expand our relationships with customers, suppliers and other third parties, as well as attract new customers and suppliers. If we do not meet these challenges, we may be unable to take advantage of market opportunities, execute our business strategies or respond to competitive pressures.
If we are unable to successfully negotiate and enter into service contracts with our customers on terms that are acceptable to us, our ability to diversify our revenue stream will be impaired.
An important element of our business strategy is to enter into service contracts with our customers under which we would be paid fees for services related to the maintenance and operation of our products purchased from us. In addition, we may offer to lease our products, sell power generated by our products or sell data gathered by sensors on our products. Even if customers purchase or lease our products, they may not enter into service contracts with us. We may not be able to negotiate service or other contracts that provide us with any additional profit opportunities. Even if we successfully negotiate and enter into such service contracts, our customers may terminate them prematurely or they may not be profitable for a variety of reasons, including the presence of unforeseen hurdles or costs. In addition, if we were unable to perform adequately under such service contracts, our efforts to successfully market our products could be impaired. Any one of these outcomes could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Failure by third parties to supply or manufacture components of our products or to deploy our systems timely or properly could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We have been, and expect to continue to be, highly dependent on third parties to supply or manufacture components for our products. If, for any reason, our third-party manufacturers or vendors are not willing or able to provide us with components or supplies in a timely fashion, or at all, our ability to manufacture and sell many of our products could be impaired. For example, some of our manufacturers have experienced staffing shortages due to COVID-19 and its variants as well as other factors, and this has delayed delivery times for our products from time to time. Specifically, we have concerns about the delivery of semiconductors and specialty metals, which are necessary to produce our products. Other global supply chain issues have caused our vendors to delay orders, or to request increased pricing that we may not always be able to pass on to our customers.
We do not have long-term contracts with our third-party manufacturers or vendors. If we do not develop ongoing relationships with vendors located in different regions, we may not be successful at controlling unit costs as our manufacturing volume increases. Additionally, we may not be able to negotiate new arrangements with these third parties on acceptable terms, or at all.
In addition, we rely on third parties, under our oversight, for the deployment and mooring for products. We have utilized several different deployment methods, including towing our products to the deployment location and transporting our products to the deployment location by barge or offshore workboat. If these third parties do not properly deploy our systems, cannot effectively deploy the products on a large, commercial scale, or otherwise do not perform adequately, or if we fail to recruit and retain third parties to deploy our systems in particular geographic areas, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.
Our targeted markets are highly competitive. We compete against incumbent solutions already being utilized by our customers and potential customers. If we are unable to compete effectively, we may be unable to increase our revenues and achieve or maintain profitability.
Our principal targeted markets include offshore oil and gas, defense and security, science and research, marine charter, and offshore wind. In our targeted markets, which are highly competitive, we compete against incumbent power and maritime domain awareness solutions already being utilized by our customers and potential customers. If we are unable to demonstrate to our customers and our potential customers that our products and services are competitive and reliable to alternative solutions, or if it takes us longer to do so than we anticipate, we may be unable to expand our business, maintain our competitive position, satisfy our contractual obligations, continue to commercialize our products, or become profitable. In addition, if the cost associated with these development efforts exceeds our projections, our results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.
In addition, competition may arise from other companies manufacturing similar products, developing different products that produce energy more efficiently than our products, or developing autonomous vessels that perform better or have other characteristics that customers prefer could make our products less attractive or render them obsolete. If we are not successful in manufacturing systems that generate competitively priced power to the capacity required for the application, we may not be able to respond effectively to competitive pressures from other renewable energy technologies or improvements to existing technologies.
If we are unable to respond effectively to such competitive forces, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected. Our targeted markets are subject to their own inherent risks, and if those risks should materialize, then our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.
We market and plan to market our products in multiple international regions. If we are unable to manage our international operations effectively, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.
We market and plan to market our products in multiple global regions, including parts of North and South America, Europe, and Asia, and we are therefore subject to risks associated with having international operations. Revenues from customers who are based outside of the U.S. accounted for 84% of our revenues in fiscal 2022 and 86% of our revenues in fiscal 2021. Risks inherent in international operations include, but are not limited to, the following:
● changes in general economic and political conditions in the countries in which we operate;
● unexpected adverse changes in foreign laws or regulatory requirements, including those with respect to renewable energy, environmental protection, permitting, export duties and quotas;
● trade barriers such as export requirements, tariffs, taxes and other restrictions and expenses, which could increase the prices of our products and make us less competitive in some countries;
● fluctuations in exchange rates may affect demand for our products and may adversely affect our profitability in U.S. dollars to the extent the price of our products and cost of raw materials and labor are denominated in a foreign currency;
● difficulty with staffing and managing widespread operations;
● complexity of, and costs relating to compliance with, the different commercial and legal requirements of the overseas markets in which we offer and sell our products;
● inability to obtain, maintain or enforce intellectual property rights; and
● difficulty in enforcing agreements in foreign legal systems.
Our business in foreign markets requires us to respond to rapid changes in market conditions in these countries. Our overall success as a global business depends, in part, on our ability to succeed in differing legal, regulatory, economic, social and political conditions. We may not be able to develop and implement policies and strategies that will be effective in each location where we do business, which in turn could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. The current economic environment, particularly the macroeconomic pressures in certain European countries, may increase these risks.
Failure of our information systems or those of third parties or breaches of data security could cause significant harm to our business.
Our systems and processes involve the storage and transmission of proprietary information and sensitive or confidential data, including personal information of employees, and possibly customers and others. In addition, we rely on information systems controlled by third parties. Information system failures, network disruptions, and system and data security breaches, manipulation, destruction, ransom, or leakage, whether intentional or accidental, could impair our ability to provide services to our customers or otherwise harm our ability to conduct our business. Any such failures, disruptions or breaches could also impede the development, manufacture or shipment of products, interrupt or delay processing of transactions and reporting financial results, result in theft or misuse of our intellectual property or other assets, or result in the unintentional disclosure of personal, proprietary, sensitive, or confidential information of employees, customers, and others. Our development and use of our MDAS platforms, cloud-based offerings, as well as our evolution toward DaaS and RaaS models, require us to host increasing amounts of our own and customer data, and increases the risk that our and our customers’ data and financial and proprietary information could be more susceptible to such failures and data breaches. In addition, the need for substantial numbers of our employees to work remotely, such as due to the COVID-19 pandemic, could create additional data security risks.
Cyber-security breaches of our systems and information technology could adversely impact our ability to operate or meet contractual obligations.
We utilize, develop, install and maintain a number of information technology systems. Various privacy and security laws require us to protect sensitive and confidential information from disclosure. In addition, we are bound by our customers and other contracts, as well as our own business practices, to protect confidential and proprietary information (whether it be ours or a third party’s information entrusted to us) from disclosure. Our computer systems, as well as those of our customers, contractors and other vendors, face the threat of unauthorized access, computer hackers, viruses, malicious code, cyber-attacks, phishing and other security incursions and system disruptions, including attempts to improperly access our confidential and proprietary information, as well as the confidential and proprietary information of our customers and other business partners. Industry-accepted security measures and technology to secure computer systems, and the information stored by cloud vendors on these systems are subject to threats. There can be no assurance that our efforts will prevent these threats. Further, as these security threats continue to evolve, we may be required to devote additional resources to protect, prevent, detect and respond against such threats. A party who circumvents our security measures, or those of our customers, contractors or other vendors, could misappropriate confidential or proprietary information, improperly manipulate data, or cause damage or interruptions to systems. If we are unable to protect sensitive information, our customers or governmental authorities could question the adequacy of our security processes and procedures and our compliance with applicable laws and regulations, including evolving government cyber security requirements for government contractors. Any of these events could damage our reputation, result in litigation and regulatory fines and penalties, or have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.
Risks Related to Product Development and Commercialization
We have only manufactured a limited number of PowerBuoys®, and to date we have not produced these products in any significant quantity for commercial production. These products do not have a sufficient operating history to accurately predict how they will perform over their estimated useful life.
To date, we have only manufactured a limited number of PowerBuoys®. As a result, our products may not have a sufficient operating history to confirm how they will perform over their estimated useful life. Our technology may not yet have demonstrated that our engineering and test results can be duplicated in volume or in commercial production. If our products are ultimately proven ineffective or unfeasible, we may not be able to expand the commercial production of our products or we may become liable to our customers for quantities we are obligated to produce but are unable to produce. If our products perform below expectations, we could lose customers and face substantial repair and replacement expenses which could in turn adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We face numerous accident and safety risks and hazards, including hazards associated with extreme weather, wind and other environmental conditions, which are inherent in offshore operations.
Portions of our operations are subject to hazards and risks inherent in the building, testing, deploying and maintenance of our products. These hazards and risks could result in personal injuries or loss of life. The unintentional release of a PowerBuoy® product from its mooring due to extreme environmental conditions and damage caused by its drifting, and other damages which may include damage to our properties, including our products, and the properties of others, or other consequential damages. Our autonomous vessels could cause other types of damage, including collisions with other vessels, property of others, or even swimmers or other persons or property utilizing a body of water where the WAM-V® is operating. This could also lead to the suspension of certain of our operations, large damage claims, damage to our safety reputation and a loss of business. Some of these risks may be uninsurable and some claims may exceed our insurance coverage. Therefore, the occurrence of a significant accident or other risk event or hazard that is not fully covered by insurance could materially and adversely affect our business and financial results and, even if fully covered by insurance, could materially and adversely affect our business due to the impact on our reputation for safety.
Our relationships with our strategic partners may not be successful, and we may not be successful in establishing additional relationships, either of which could adversely affect our ability to commercialize our products and services.
We have a number of critical relationships with strategic partners, specifically our software development partners. Generally, these types of relationships obligate a party to provide certain services or perform certain tasks in connection with the relationship with the alliance partner, and we are generally responsible for paying the costs we incur relating to such services or tasks. These relationships generally are not expected to provide us with any revenues or sources of financing. If we are unable to reach agreements with additional suitable alliance partners, we may fail to meet our business objectives for the commercialization of our products. We may face significant competition in seeking appropriate alliance partners. Moreover, these development agreements and strategic alliances are complex to negotiate and time consuming to document. We may not be successful in our efforts to establish additional strategic relationships or other alternative arrangements. The terms of any additional strategic relationships or other arrangements that we establish may not be favorable to us. Furthermore, even if we are able to find, negotiate and enter these relationships, such arrangements may be conditional upon our receipt of additional funding. There can be no assurance that we will receive such additional funding. In addition, strategic relationships may not be successful, and we may be unable to sell and market our products to these companies, their affiliates and customers in the future, or growth opportunities may not materialize. Any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We have limited manufacturing and deployment experience. If we are unable to increase our manufacturing capacity in a cost-effective manner, our business will be materially harmed.
We manufacture key components of our products, while outsourcing the manufacturing for other components of our products. However, we have only manufactured our products in limited quantities for use in development and testing and have limited commercial manufacturing and deployment experience, and our work with our vendors has not included work on multiple orders on time-critical deadlines. Our future success depends on our ability to significantly increase both our manufacturing capacity and production throughput in a cost-effective and efficient manner, and to manage multiple vendors with several orders on specific deadlines. In order to meet our growth objectives, we will need to increase our engineering, contract management, and manufacturing staff. There is intense competition for hiring qualified technical and engineering personnel. Therefore, we may not be able to hire a sufficient number of qualified personnel to allow us to meet our growth objectives.
We may be unable to develop efficient, low-cost manufacturing capabilities and processes that enable us to meet the quality, price, engineering, design and production standards or production volumes necessary to successfully commercialize our products. If we cannot do so, we may be unable to expand our business, satisfy our contractual obligations or become profitable. Even if we are successful in developing our manufacturing capabilities and processes, we may not be able to do so in time to meet our commercialization schedule or satisfy the requirements of our customers.
Problems with the quality or performance of our products would adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our agreements with customers will generally include guarantees and warranties with respect to the quality and performance of our products. Because of the limited operating history of our products, we have been required to make analytical assumptions regarding the durability, reliability and performance of the systems, and we may not be able to predict whether and to what extent we may be required to perform under the guarantees that we expect to give our customers. Our assumptions could prove to be materially different from the actual performance of our products, causing us to incur substantial expense to repair or replace defective systems in the future. We will bear the risk of claims long after we have sold our products and recognized revenue. Moreover, any widespread product failures could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We must continually improve existing products, design and sell new products, and invest in research and development in order to compete effectively.
The markets for our products are characterized by rapid technological change, evolving industry standards and continuous improvements of products. Due to constant changes in our markets, our future success depends on our ability to develop new technologies, products, processes and product applications. New product development and commercialization efforts, including efforts to enter markets or product categories in which we have limited or no prior experience, have inherent risks. These risks include the costs involved, such as development and commercialization, product development or launch delays, and the failure of new products and line extensions to achieve anticipated levels of market acceptance or growth in sales or operating income. We also face the risk that our competitors will introduce innovative new products that compete with our products. If new product development and commercialization efforts are not successful, our financial results could be adversely affected.
Product and technological developments are accomplished primarily through internally funded R&D projects. Because it is not generally possible to predict the amount of time required and costs involved in achieving certain R&D objectives, actual development costs may exceed anticipated amounts and estimated product development schedules may be extended. Our financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected if:
● Product improvements are not completed on a timely basis;
● New products are not introduced on a timely basis or do not achieve sufficient market penetration;
● There are cost overruns or delays in R&D efforts; or
● New products experience reliability or quality problems, or otherwise do not meet customer preferences or requirements.
Risks Related to Intellectual Property
If we are unable to obtain or maintain intellectual property rights relating to our technology and products, the commercial value of our technology and products may be adversely affected, which could in turn adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our success and ability to compete depends in part upon our ability to obtain protection in the U.S. and other countries for our products by establishing and maintaining intellectual property rights relating to or incorporated into our technology and products. We own a variety of patents and patent applications in the U.S. and corresponding patents and patent applications in several foreign jurisdictions. However, we have not obtained patent protection in each market in which we plan to compete. In addition, we do not know how successful we would be should we choose to assert our patents against suspected infringement, and we do not know what the cost to do so would be. Our pending and future patent applications may not issue as patents or, if issued, may not be issued in a form that will be advantageous to us. Even if issued, patents may be challenged, narrowed, invalidated or circumvented, which could limit our ability to stop competitors from marketing similar products or limit the length of term of patent protection we may have for our products. Changes in either patent laws or in interpretations of patent laws in the U.S. and other countries may diminish the value of our intellectual property or narrow the scope of our patent protection, which could in turn adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
If we are unable to protect the confidentiality of our proprietary information and know-how, the value of our technology and products could be adversely affected, which could in turn adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
In addition to patented technology, we rely upon unpatented proprietary technology, processes and know-how, particularly with respect to our PowerBuoy® control and electricity generating systems and our WAM-V® systems. We generally seek to protect this information in part by confidentiality agreements with our employees, consultants and third parties. These agreements may be breached, and we may not have adequate remedies for any such breach. In addition, our trade secrets may otherwise become known or be independently developed by competitors.
Foreign laws may not afford us sufficient protections for our intellectual property, and we may not be able to obtain patent protection outside of the United States.
Intellectual property rights protection continues to present significant challenges to U.S. companies operating around the world. The body of law is often relatively undeveloped compared to the commercial law in the U.S. and only limited protection of intellectual property may be available in those jurisdictions. Although we have taken precautions to protect our intellectual property, any local design or manufacture of products that we undertake in a foreign jurisdiction could subject us to an increased risk that unauthorized parties will be able to copy or otherwise obtain or use our intellectual property, which could harm our business. We may also have limited legal recourse in the event we encounter patent or trademark infringement. If we are unable to manage our intellectual property rights, our business and operating results may be seriously harmed.
If we infringe or are alleged to have infringed upon intellectual property rights of third parties, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.
Our products or use of our trademarks may infringe, or be claimed to infringe, upon patents, patent applications or trademarks under which we do not hold licenses or other rights. Third parties may own or control these patents, patent applications or trademarks in the U.S. and abroad. Third parties could bring claims against us that would cause us to incur substantial expenses and, if successfully asserted against us, could cause us to pay substantial damages. Further, if a patent or trademark infringement suit were brought against us, we could be forced to stop or delay manufacturing or sales of the product or component that is the subject of the suit.
As a result of patent or trademark infringement claims, or in order to avoid potential claims, we may choose or be required to seek a license from the third party and be required to pay license fees, royalties or both. These licenses may not be available on acceptable terms, or at all. Even if we were able to obtain a license, the rights may be non-exclusive, which could result in our competitors gaining access to the same intellectual property. Ultimately, we could be forced to cease some aspect of our business operations if, as a result of actual or threatened patent or trademark infringement claims, we are unable to enter into licenses on acceptable terms. This could significantly and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
In addition to infringement claims against us, we may become a party to other types of patent or trademark litigation and other proceedings, including proceedings declared by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and proceedings in the European Patent Office, regarding intellectual property rights with respect to our products and technology. The cost to us of any patent or trademark litigation or other proceeding, even if resolved in our favor, could be substantial. In addition, if we were to license our intellectual property to others, we may be required to indemnify our licensee if the licensed intellectual property is found to be infringing on a third party’s rights. Some of our competitors may be able to sustain the costs of such litigation or proceedings more effectively than we can because of their greater financial resources.
Our contracts with governmental entities could negatively affect our intellectual property rights, and our ability to commercialize our products could be impaired.
Our prior agreements with government agencies in large part funded the research and development of our PowerBuoy®. When new technologies are developed with U.S. government funding, the government obtains certain rights in any resulting patents, technical data and software, generally including, at a minimum, a non-exclusive license authorizing the government to use the invention, technical data or software for non-commercial purposes. These rights may permit the government to disclose our confidential information to third parties and to exercise “march-in” rights. March-in rights refer to the right of the U.S. government to require us to grant a license to the technology to a responsible applicant or, if we refuse, the government may grant the license itself. U.S. government-funded inventions must be reported to the government and U.S. government funding must be disclosed in any resulting patent applications; our rights in such inventions will normally be subject to government license rights, periodic post-contract utilization reporting, foreign manufacturing restrictions and march-in rights.
The government can exercise its march-in rights if it determines that action is necessary because we fail to achieve practical application of the technology or because action is necessary to alleviate health or safety needs, to meet requirements of federal regulations or to give preference to U.S. industry. Our government-sponsored research contracts are subject to audit and require that we provide regular written technical updates on a monthly, quarterly or annual basis, and, at the conclusion of the research contract, a final report on the results of our technical research. Because these reports are generally available to the public, third parties may obtain some aspects of our sensitive confidential information. Moreover, if we fail to provide these reports or to provide accurate or complete reports, the government may obtain rights to any intellectual property arising from the related research. Funding from government contracts may also limit when and how we can deploy our technology developed under those contracts. Foreign governments with which we contract to provide funding for our research and development may seek similar rights.
Risks Related to Regulatory and Compliance Matters
If we are unable to obtain all necessary regulatory permits and approvals, it is possible that we will not be able to implement our planned projects or business plan.
Offshore deployment of our products is heavily regulated. Each of our deployments is subject to multiple permitting and approval requirements. We are dependent on state, federal and regional government agencies for such permits and approvals. Due to the unique nature of in-ocean power generation and the associated potential for environmental hazards stemming from deployment of our products, we expect our projects to receive close scrutiny by permitting agencies, approval authorities and the public, which could result in substantial delay in the permitting process. New regulations surrounding the deployment of autonomous vessels could restrict or limit our ability to deploy WAM-Vs® in certain jurisdictions. Successful challenges by any parties opposed to our deployments could result in increased costs, or in the denial of necessary permits and approvals.
If we or our clients are unable to obtain necessary permits and approvals in connection with any or all of our projects, those projects would not be implemented, and our business, financial condition and results of operations would be adversely affected. If we violate or fail to comply with these permits and approvals, we could be fined or otherwise sanctioned by regulators.
In the event we are unable to satisfy regulatory requirements relating to internal control over financial reporting, or if our internal controls are not effective, our business and financial results may suffer.
Effective internal controls are necessary for us to provide reasonable assurance with respect to our financial reports and to effectively prevent fraud. Pursuant to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, we are required to furnish a report by management on internal control over financial reporting, including management’s assessment of the effectiveness of such control. Internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements because of its inherent limitations, including the possibility of human error, the circumvention or overriding of controls, or fraud. Therefore, even effective internal controls can provide only reasonable assurance with respect to the preparation and fair presentation of financial statements. In addition, projections of any evaluation of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting to future periods are subject to the risk that the control may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate. If we fail to maintain the adequacy of our internal controls, including any failure to implement new or improved controls, or if we experience difficulties in their implementation, our business and operating results could be harmed, we could fail to meet our reporting obligations, and there could also be a material adverse effect on our stock price.
A portion of products we acquire from our suppliers are manufactured in foreign countries, making the price and availability of these products subject to international trade risks and other international conditions.
A portion of our parts for our products are sourced from foreign countries, some of which in the future are, or could become subject to trade restrictions, including increased tariffs or quotas, embargoes and customs restrictions, which would increase the cost or could reduce the supply of products available to us, and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Tariffs on imports from foreign countries, as well as changes in tax and trade policies, such as a border adjustment tax or disallowance of certain tax deductions for imported product, could materially increase our manufacturing costs, the costs of our imported products or our income tax expense, which would have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. Tariffs imposed by foreign countries on imports of our products could also adversely affect our international sales. Any increase in manufacturing costs, the cost of our products or limitation on the amount of products we are able to purchase, could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.
Our business involves the use of hazardous materials, which require compliance with environmental and occupational safety laws regulating the use of such materials. If we violate these laws, we could be subject to significant fines, liabilities or other adverse consequences.
Our manufacturing operations, particularly some of the activities undertaken by our third-party suppliers and manufacturers, involve the controlled use of hazardous materials. These include batteries for the PB3 and WAM-V®, propane for the hybrid and various lubricants and oils. Accordingly, our third-party contractors and we are subject to foreign, federal, state and local laws governing the protection of the environment and human health and safety, including those relating to the use, handling and disposal of these materials. We cannot completely eliminate the risk of accidental contamination or injury from these hazardous materials. In the event of an accident or failure to comply with environmental or health and safety laws and regulations, we could be held liable for resulting damages, including damages to natural resources, fines and penalties, and any such liability could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Environmental laws and regulations are complex, change frequently and have tended to become more stringent over time. While we have planned for future capital and operating expenditures to maintain compliance, we cannot assure you that environmental laws and regulations will not change or become more stringent in the future. Therefore, we cannot assure you that our costs of complying with current and future environmental and health and safety laws, and any liabilities arising from past or future releases of, or exposure to, hazardous substances will not adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.
Risks Related to Litigation
Litigation is costly and time-consuming to defend, and if decided against us, could require us to pay substantial judgments or settlements. We may be the subject of future securities or other litigation, which could adversely affect our company, our business and our liquidity.
Any litigation is costly, and time consuming to defend and may distract our management from the daily operations of our business. We may be the subject of additional future litigation, which could a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. Although we maintain insurance coverage, we cannot assure that this insurance coverage will be sufficient to cover the substantial fees of lawyers and other professional advisors relating to these pending lawsuits or any future litigation, our obligations to indemnify our officers and directors who may become parties to such pending and future actions, or the amount of any judgments or settlements that we may be obligated to pay in connection with these lawsuits. In addition, prior judgements and settlements have caused our insurance premiums and retention amounts to increase, and we may be subject to additional increases in the future or be subjected to other changes in our insurance coverages. Further, given the volatility of the market price of our common stock, we may be subject to future class action securities and other litigation. Accordingly, we have incurred and may continue to incur substantial legal expenses, judgments and/or settlements relating to pending and future litigation and our management’s time and attention may be diverted from the operation of our business, which could materially and adversely affect the Company.
We may become the target of securities litigation, which is costly and time-consuming to defend.
In the past, companies that experience significant volatility in the market price of their publicly traded securities have become subject to class action securities litigation. Our stock price has been volatile, and class action securities litigation and derivative lawsuits have been filed against us and it is possible that additional lawsuits could be brought against us in the future. The results of complex legal proceedings are difficult to predict. These lawsuits assert types of claims that, if resolved against us, could give rise to substantial damages, and an unfavorable outcome or settlement of these lawsuits, or any future lawsuits, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and/or stock price. Even if any future lawsuits, are not resolved against us, the costs of defending such lawsuits may be material to our business and our operations. Moreover, these lawsuits may divert our management’s attention from the operation of our business. For more information on our legal proceedings, see Item 3 “Legal Proceedings” of this Annual Report and Note 17 “Commitments and Contingencies - Litigation” in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for the fiscal year ended April 30, 2022.
Risks Related to Our Common Stock
If we issue additional shares of our equity securities in the future, our shareholders may experience substantial dilution in the value of their investment or their ownership interest.
Our certificate of incorporation currently authorizes us to issue up to 100,000,000 shares of our common stock and to issue and designate the rights of, without shareholder approval, up to 5,000,000 shares of preferred stock. In the future, if we were required to raise additional capital, we may offer additional shares of our common stock or other securities convertible into or exchangeable for our common stock at prices that may not be the same as the price per share paid by other investors, and dilution to our shareholders in the value of their investment and their ownership and voting interest in the Company could result. We may sell shares or other securities in any other offering at a price per share that is less than the price per share paid by existing investors, and investors purchasing shares or other securities in the future could have rights superior to existing shareholders.
In addition, we have a significant number of stock options and warrants outstanding. To the extent that outstanding stock options or warrants have been or may be exercised or other shares issued, current shareholders and future investors who have purchased our common stock will experience further dilution. In addition, we may choose to raise additional capital due to market conditions or strategic considerations even if we believe we have sufficient funds for our current or future operating plans. To the extent that we issue new securities or raise additional capital through the sale of equity or convertible debt securities, the issuance of these securities could result in further dilution to our shareholders or result in downward pressure on the price of our common stock.
Historically, our stock price has been volatile, and this is likely to continue; purchasers of our common stock could incur substantial losses as a result.
Historically, the market price of our common stock has fluctuated significantly, and we expect that this will continue. Purchasers of our common stock could incur substantial losses relating to their investment in our stock as a result. For the fiscal year ended April 30, 2022, the 52-week low and high prices for our common stock was $0.93 and $3.28, respectively. Also, the stock market in general has recently experienced volatility that has often been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of particular companies. These broad market fluctuations could result in fluctuations in the price of our common stock, which could cause purchasers of our common stock to incur substantial losses. The market price for our common stock may be influenced by many factors, including the items identified within these Risk Factors and the other information included within this annual report.
Provisions in our corporate charter documents and under Delaware law may delay or prevent attempts by our shareholders to change our management and hinder efforts to acquire a controlling interest in us.
As a result of our reincorporation in Delaware in April 2007, provisions of our certificate of incorporation and bylaws may discourage, delay or prevent a merger, acquisition or other change in control that shareholders may consider favorable, including transactions in which our shareholders might otherwise receive a premium for their shares. These provisions may also prevent or frustrate attempts by our shareholders to replace or remove our management. These provisions include:
● advance notice requirements for shareholder proposals and nominations;
● the inability of shareholders to act by written consent or to call special meetings; and
● the ability of our Board of Directors to designate the terms of and issue new series of preferred stock without shareholder approval, which could be used to institute a “poison pill” that would work to dilute the stock ownership of a potential hostile acquirer, effectively preventing acquisitions that have not been approved by our Board of Directors.
The affirmative vote of the holders of at least 75% of our shares of capital stock entitled to vote is necessary to amend or repeal the above provisions of our certificate of incorporation. In addition, absent the approval of our Board of Directors, our bylaws may only be amended or repealed by the affirmative vote of the holders of at least 75% of our shares of capital stock entitled to vote.
In addition, Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law prohibits a publicly-held Delaware corporation from engaging in a business combination with an interested shareholder, which is generally a person who together with its affiliates owns or within the last three years has owned 15% of our voting stock, for a period of three years after the date of the transaction in which the person became an interested shareholder, unless the business combination is approved in a prescribed manner. Accordingly, Section 203 may discourage, delay or prevent a change in control of our company.
If securities or industry analysts fail to cover us, or do not publish research or publish unfavorable or inaccurate research about our business, our stock price and trading volume could decline.
The trading market for our common stock is influenced by the research and reports that industry or securities analysts may publish about us, our business, or our industry from time to time. If no analyst covers us, or ultimately one or more of these analysts cease coverage or fail to publish reports on the Company regularly, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which in turn could cause the price or trading volume of our common stock to decline. Moreover, if one or more of the analysts who cover our company downgrade our common stock or release a negative report, or if our operating results do not meet analyst expectations, the price of our common stock could decline.
We have never paid cash dividends on our common stock, and we do not anticipate paying any cash dividends in the foreseeable future.
We have not paid any cash dividends on our common stock to date. We currently intend to retain our future earnings, if any, to fund the development and growth of our business. In addition, the terms of any future debt agreements may preclude us from paying dividends. As a result, capital appreciation, if any, of our common stock will be the sole source of gain for our shareholders for the foreseeable future.

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ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS
ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS
Not applicable.

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ITEM 2. PROPERTIES
ITEM 2. PROPERTIES
Our corporate headquarters are currently located in Monroe Township, New Jersey, where we occupy approximately 56,000 square feet under a lease expiring on October 31, 2024. We use this facility for administration, research and development, as well as assembly and testing of our products.
Additionally, we have a property located on the University of California Berkeley in Berkeley, California, where we occupy 1,220 square feet under a lease expiring on June 30, 2022 which will become a month-to-month lease upon expiration. We use this facility primarily for administration, engineering, and manufacturing of our products.
Finally, we have a property located in Houston, Texas, where we occupy approximately 28,000 square feet under a lease expiring on January 31, 2023. We use this facility for our consulting services personnel.

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ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
Employment Litigation
On June 10, 2014, the Company terminated Charles Dunleavy as its Chief Executive Officer for cause and removed him from the Board of Directors. In 2018, Mr. Dunleavy filed a demand for arbitration against the Company before the American Arbitration Association in New Jersey, claiming, among other things, that the Company breached its employment agreement with Mr. Dunleavy. The arbitration panel ultimately awarded Mr. Dunleavy compensatory damages in the amount of $438,254.54 for the breach of contract claim, plus additional attorneys’ fees, costs and pre-judgment interest for a total award of $1,223,963.14. The Company paid this amount on May 26, 2021 and the matter is now closed.
Spain Income Tax Audit
The Company underwent an income tax audit in Spain for the period from 2011 to 2014, when our Spanish branch was closed. In connection with the tax audit, the Spanish tax inspector challenged the Company’s recognition of grant funds received in 2011 to 2014 from the European Commission in connection with the Company’s Waveport project. On July 30, 2018, the inspector concluded that although there was no tax owed in light of losses reported, the Company’s Spanish branch owed penalties for failure to properly account for the income associated with the funding grant. On August 30, 2018, the Company filed an administrative appeal of the penalty and its underlying conclusions. During the three months ended July 31, 2020, the Company received notice from the Spanish Central Economic and Administrative Tribunal that it agreed with the inspector and ruled that the Company owes the full amount of the penalty in the amount of €279,869.81 or approximately $331,000. In the quarter ended October 31, 2020, the Company recorded an additional reserve of €117,145.81 (or approximately $154,000) to Selling, general and administrative costs in the Statement of Operations making the total reserve €279,869.81, which amount was paid by the Company to the Spanish Tax Administration on January 25, 2021. As of April 30, 2022, the Company had no reserve related to this audit. The Company has appealed the decision of the Tribunal tax assessment to the Spanish National Court. The Company expect a ruling on the appeal prior to the end of fiscal 2023.

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ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURE
Item 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES
None.
PART II

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ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT'S COMMON EQUITY
ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES
Shareholders
Our common stock was listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market, under the symbol “OPTT” until June 2021 when the listing was transferred to the NYSE American under the same symbol. As of July 13, 2022, there were 131 holders of record for shares of our common stock. Since a portion of our common stock is held in “street” or nominee name, we are unable to determine the exact number of beneficial holders.
Dividend Policy
We have never declared or paid any cash dividends on our common stock, and we do not currently anticipate declaring or paying cash dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future. At this time, we intend to retain all of our future earnings, if any, to finance the growth and development of our business. Any future determination relating to our dividend policy will be made at the discretion of our Board of Directors, and will depend on a number of factors, including future earnings, capital requirements, financial conditions, future prospects, contractual restrictions and covenants, and other factors that our Board of Directors may deem relevant.
Transfer Agent Information
Our transfer agent is Computershare Trust Company, N.A. Computershare is located at 250 Royall Street, Canton, MA 02021-1011. Its contact information is: United States and Canada: (800) 662 - 7232, International (781) 575-4238, and its website is located at www.computershare.com.
Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer
There were no purchases of equity securities by the Company for the three months ended April 30, 2022.
Equity Compensation Plan Information
See “Part III, Item 12 - Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners, Management and Related Shareholder Matters- Equity Compensation Plan Information.”
Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds
Not Applicable.

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ITEM 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA
ITEM 6. [Reserved]

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ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS
ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
You should read the following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations together with our consolidated financial statements and the related notes and other financial information included elsewhere in this Annual Report. Some of the information contained in this discussion and analysis or set forth elsewhere in this Annual Report, including information with respect to our plans and strategy for our business and related financing, includes forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. You should review the “Risk Factors” section of this Annual Report, and elsewhere in this report, for a discussion of important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results described in or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in the following discussion and analysis. Our fiscal year ends on April 30. References to fiscal 2021 are to the fiscal year ended April 30, 2021.
Business Overview
We provide ocean data collection and reporting, marine power, offshore communications, and Maritime Domain Awareness (“MDA”) products and consulting services. We offer our products and services to a wide-range of customers, including those in government and offshore energy, oil and gas, construction, wind power and other industries. We are involved in the entire life cycle of product development, from product design through manufacturing, testing, deployment, maintenance and upgrades. working closely with partners across our supply chain. We also work closely with our third party partners that provide us with, among other things, software, controls, sensors, integration services, and marine installation services. Our solutions enable technologies for data collection, analysis, and communication in ocean and other offshore environments, and generate actionable intelligence via a variety of inputs. We then channel the information we collect, and other communications, through control equipment linked to edge computing and cloud hosting environments.
Business Update Regarding COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic presented substantial health and economic risks, uncertainties and challenges to our business, the global economy and financial markets. During 2020 we started to experience some delays related to the impact of COVID-19 on the international supply chain. We were able to mitigate much of the impact by consuming not only internal inventory but also by expanding our supply base. While our supply chain is primarily domestically oriented with the majority of our products domestically sourced, we obtain some components from Asia and Europe. We use a combination of off-the-shelf components and equipment as well as custom developed parts. There have been a number of disruptions throughout the global supply chain which have impacted our development and manufacturing. As the global economy continues to open up, it is driving the demand for certain components. This has outpaced the return of the global supply chain to full production. Although we have been able to find alternatives for many component shortages without compromising our product standards or integrity, we experienced, and continue to experience, some delays and cost increases with respect to container shortages, ocean shipping and air freight. In addition, our key suppliers have experienced longer lead times and cost increases for raw materials and have experienced periods of interruption to production due to COVID-19 and its variants affecting manpower.
As of April 30, 2022, local manpower and similar COVID-related problems are starting to ease. Like others in the industry we continue to have concerns over component shortages, particularly for semiconductors, lithium-ion batteries and specialty metals, however, this has not prevented us from manufacturing our products. If spikes in COVID-19 and its variants occur in regions in which our supply chain operates, we could experience periodic interruptions or impacts due to delays in components and incur further freight price increases. We continue to monitor and adjust our operations, as appropriate. in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Capital Raises
At the Market Offering Agreements
On January 7, 2019, the Company entered into an At the Market Offering Agreement (“2019 ATM Facility”) with AGP, under which the Company may issue and sell to or through AGP, acting as agent and/or principal, shares of the Company’s common stock having an aggregate offering price of up to $25.0 million. From inception of the program through its termination on December 8, 2020, under the 2019 ATM Facility, the Company sold and issued an aggregate of 17,595,472 shares of its common stock with an aggregate market value of $23.4 million at an average price of $1.33 per share and paid AGP a sales commission of approximately $0.8 million related to those shares. The agreement was fully utilized and terminated on December 8, 2020.
On November 20, 2020, the Company entered into an At the Market Offering Agreement with AGP (the “2020 ATM Facility”). On December 4, 2020, the Company filed a prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Commission whereby, the Company could issue and sell to or through AGP, acting as agent and/or principal, shares of the Company’s common stock having an aggregate offering price of up to $50.0 million. From inception of the 2020 ATM Facility through April 30, 2022, the Company sold and issued an aggregate of 17,179,883 shares of its common stock with an aggregate market value of $50.0 million at an average price of $2.91 per share and paid AGP a sales commission of approximately $1.6 million related to those shares. A prospectus supplement was filed on January 10, 2022 to allow the Company to sell an additional $25.0 million (or an aggregate of $75.0 million) under the 2020 ATM Facility, none of which has been sold to date.
Equity Line Common Stock Purchase Agreements
On October 24, 2019, the Company entered into a common stock purchase agreement with Aspire Capital which provided that, subject to certain terms, conditions and limitations, Aspire Capital was committed to purchase up to an aggregate of $10.0 million shares of the Company’s common stock over a 30-month period. Through September 18, 2020, the Company had sold an aggregate of 6,424,205 shares of common stock with an aggregate market value of $4.0 million at an average price of $0.63 per share pursuant to this common stock purchase agreement. The agreement was fully utilized and terminated on September 18, 2020.
On September 18, 2020, the Company entered into a new common stock purchase agreement with Aspire Capital which provided that, subject to certain terms, conditions and limitations, Aspire Capital was committed to purchase up to an aggregate of $12.5 million shares of the Company’s common stock over a 30-month period subject to a limit of 19.99% of the outstanding common stock on the date of the agreement if the price did not exceed a specified price in the agreement. The number of shares the Company could issue within the 19.99% limit was 3,722,251 shares without shareholder approval. Shareholder approval was received at the Company’s annual meeting of shareholders on December 23, 2020 for the sale of 9,864,706 additional shares of common stock which exceeds the 19.99% limit of outstanding common stock on the date of the agreement. Through April 30, 2022, the Company had sold an aggregate of 3,722,251 shares of common stock with an aggregate market value of $11.8 million at an average price of $3.17 per share pursuant to this common stock purchase agreement.
The sale of additional equity or convertible securities could result in dilution to our shareholders. If additional funds are raised through the issuance of debt securities or preferred stock, these securities could have rights senior to those associated with our common stock and could contain covenants that would restrict our operations. The Company currently has committed sources of equity financing through it’s At the Market Offering Agreement with A.G.P/Alliance Global Partners (“AGP”) and the Aspire Capital financing (see Note 12), but the Company cannot be sure that additional equity and/or debt financing will be available to the Company as needed on acceptable terms, or at all. If we are unable to obtain required financing when needed, we may be required to reduce the scope of our operations, including our planned product development and marketing efforts, which could materially and adversely affect our financial condition and operating results. If we are unable to secure additional financing, we may be forced to cease our operations.
Backlog
As of April 30, 2022, the Company’s backlog was $0.6 million. As of April 30, 2021, backlog was $0.2 million. Our backlog can include unfilled firm orders for our products and services from commercial or governmental customers. If any of our contracts were to be terminated, our backlog would be reduced by the expected value of the remaining terms of such contract.
The amount of contract backlog is not necessarily indicative of future revenue because modifications to or terminations of present contracts and production delays can provide additional revenue or reduce anticipated revenue. A substantial portion of our revenues is recognized using the input method used to measure completion over time of customer contracts, and changes in estimates from time to time may have a significant effect on revenue and backlog. Our backlog is also typically subject to large variations from time to time due to the timing of new awards.
Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates
To understand our financial statements, it is important to understand our critical accounting policies and estimates. We prepare our financial statements in accordance with U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (“U.S. GAAP”). The preparation of financial statements also requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, costs and expenses and related disclosures. We base our estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances. Actual results could differ significantly from the estimates made by our management. To the extent that there are differences between our estimates and actual results, our future financial statement presentation, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows will be affected. We believe that the accounting policies are critical to understanding our historical and future performance, as these policies relate to the more significant areas involving management’s judgments and estimates.
We believe the following accounting policies require significant judgment and estimates by us in the preparation of our consolidated financial statements.
Revenue recognition
A performance obligation is the unit of account for revenue recognition. The Company assesses the goods or services promised in a contract with a customer and identifies as a performance obligation either: a) a good or service (or a bundle of goods or services) that is distinct; or b) a series of distinct goods or services that are substantially the same and that have the same pattern of transfer to the customer. A contract may contain a single or multiple performance obligations. For contracts with multiple performance obligations, the Company allocates the contracted transaction price to each performance obligation based upon the relative standalone selling price, which represents the price the Company would sell a promised good or service separately to a customer. The Company determines the standalone selling price based upon the facts and circumstances of each obligated good or service. The majority of the Company’s contracts have no observable standalone selling price since the associated products and services are customized to customer specifications. As such, the standalone selling price generally reflects the Company’s forecast of the total cost to satisfy the performance obligation plus an appropriate profit margin.
The nature of the Company’s contracts may give rise to several types of variable considerations, including unpriced change orders and liquidated damages and penalties. Variable consideration can also arise from modifications to the scope of services. Variable consideration is included in the transaction price to the extent it is probable that a significant reversal of cumulative revenue recognized will not occur once the uncertainty associated with the variable consideration is resolved. Our estimates of variable consideration and determination of whether to include such amounts in the transaction price are based largely on our assessment of legal enforceability, performance and any other information (historical, current, and forecasted) that is reasonably available to us. There was no variable consideration as of April 30, 2022 and 2021.
The Company recognizes revenue when or as it satisfies a performance obligation by transferring a good or service to a customer, either (1) at a point in time or (2) over time. A good or service is transferred when or as the customer obtains control of it. The evaluation of whether control of each performance obligation is transferred at a point in time or over time is made at contract inception. Input measures such as costs or labor hours incurred are utilized to assess progress against specific contractual performance obligations for the Company’s services. The selection of the method to measure progress towards completion requires judgment and is based on the nature of the services to be provided. For the Company, the input method using costs or labor hour incurred best represents the measure of progress against the performance obligations incorporated within the contractual agreements. When the Company’s estimate of total costs to be incurred to satisfy the performance obligations exceeds revenues, the Company recognizes the loss immediately.
Financial Operations Overview
The following table provides information regarding the breakdown of our revenues by customer for fiscal years 2022 and 2021:
Twelve months ended April 30,
(in thousands)
Transocean Ltd. $ 254 $ -
Valaris PLC -
Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. -
United States Department of Energy -
Enel Green Power Chile, LTDA
Eni S.p.A.
Other (no other customers over 10%)
$ 1,759 $ 1,206
We currently focus our sales and marketing efforts globally. The following table shows the percentage of our revenues by geographical location of our customers for fiscal 2022 and 2021:
Twelve months ended April 30,
Customer Location
North America 84 % 14 %
South America 9 % 61 %
Europe 1 % 25 %
Asia 6 % - %
Total 100 % 100 %
Foreign exchange loss
We transact business in various countries and have exposure to fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates. Foreign exchange gains and losses arise in the translation of foreign-denominated assets and liabilities, which may result in realized and unrealized gains or losses from exchange rate fluctuations. Since we conduct our business in U.S. dollars and our functional currency is the U.S. dollar, our main foreign exchange exposure, if any, results from changes in the exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and other foreign currencies.
We maintain cash accounts that are denominated in British pounds sterling, Euros and Australian dollars in addition to U.S. dollars. These foreign denominated accounts had a balance of $28,000 as of April 30, 2022 and $0.3 million as of April 30, 2021, compared to our total cash, cash equivalents, short term investments, and restricted cash balances of $57.7 million as of April 30, 2022 and $83.6 million as of April 30, 2021.
In addition, a portion of our operations is conducted through our subsidiaries in countries other than the U.S., specifically Ocean Power Technologies Ltd. in the United Kingdom, the functional currency of which is the British pound sterling, and Ocean Power Technologies (Australasia) Pty Ltd. in Australia, the functional currency of which is the Australian dollar. Both of these subsidiaries have foreign exchange exposure that results from changes in the exchange rate between their functional currency and other foreign currencies in which they conduct business. As of April 30, 2022, the Company had liquidated our Australian subsidiary. The unrealized gains or losses resulting from foreign currency balances translation are included in Accumulated Other Comprehensive Loss within Shareholders’ Equity.
We currently do not hedge our exchange rate exposure. However, we assess the anticipated foreign currency working capital requirements and capital asset acquisitions of our foreign operations and attempt to maintain a portion of our cash and cash equivalents denominated in foreign currencies sufficient to satisfy these anticipated requirements. We also assess the need and cost to utilize financial instruments to hedge currency exposures on an ongoing basis and may hedge against exchange rate exposure in the future.
Results of Operations
This section should be read in conjunction with the discussion below under “- Liquidity and Capital Resources.”
Fiscal Years Ended April 30, 2022 and 2021
The following table contains selected Consolidated Statements of Operations information, which serves as the basis of the discussion of our results of operations for the years ended April 30, 2022 and 2021:
Twelve months ended April 30,
(in thousands)
Revenues $ 1,759 $ 1,206
Cost of revenues 1,860 2,279
Gross loss (101 ) (1,073 )
Total operating expenses 21,512 12,519
Operating loss (21,613 ) (13,592 )
Litigation settlement - (1,224 )
Interest income, net
Other income -
Gain on forgiveness of PPP loan -
Loss on liquidation of subsidiary (157 ) -
Other expense, net - (83 )
Foreign exchange gain/(loss) (1 )
Loss before income taxes (20,697 ) (14,760 )
Income tax benefit 1,823 -
Net loss $ (18,874 ) $ (14,760 )
Revenues
Revenues for the fiscal years ended April 30, 2022 and 2021 were approximately $1.8 million and $1.2 million, respectively, representing an increase of approximately $0.6 million, or 46%, from 2021. The $0.6 million increase in revenues for the full year was mainly attributable to increases from MAR of $0.4 million and from 3Dent $0.9 million.
Cost of revenues
Our cost of revenues consists primarily of subcontracts, incurred material, lab and manufacturing overhead expenses, such as engineering expense, equipment depreciation and maintenance and facility related expenses, and includes the cost of equipment to customize the PowerBuoy® and WAM-V®, supplied by third-party suppliers. Cost of revenues also includes PowerBuoy® and WAM-V® system delivery and deployment expenses and may include anticipated losses at completion on certain contracts.
Cost of revenues for the fiscal years ended April 30, 2022 and 2021 were approximately $1.9 million and $2.3 million, respectively.
Operating Expenses
Our operating expenses consist of salaries and other personnel-related costs and the costs of products, materials and outside services used in our product development and unfunded research activities, professional fees, salaries and other personnel-related costs for employees and consultants engaged in sales and marketing and support of our PowerBuoy® systems and costs for executive, accounting and administrative personnel, and other general corporate expenses. Our product development costs relate primarily to our efforts to increase the power output and reliability of our PowerBuoy® system, production of our WAM-Vs®, and to the development of new products, product applications and complementary technologies. We expense all of our engineering and product development costs as incurred.
Operating expenses during the fiscal year ended April 30, 2022 were $21.5 million as compared to $12.5 million for fiscal year 2021. The increase of $9.0 million, or 72%, is due to higher spending on product development of $4.4 million, an increase of $0.7 million related to the acquisition of MAR and $0.9 million of additional stock compensation expense relating to January 2022 awards, compared to the same period in fiscal 2021.
Litigation settlement
On May 19, 2021, the Company entered into a Stipulation with Charles F. Dunleavy, former Chief Executive Officer (refer to Item 3. Legal Proceedings above for a description of the case). The Stipulation recounts that the panel of arbitrators in the Action issued two interim awards total $1.2 million. The Company recorded the settlement cost as Litigation Settlement in the Consolidated Statement of Operations for the year ended April 30, 2021.
Interest income, net and other income (loss)
Interest income, net consists of interest received on cash and cash equivalents, investments in money market accounts and short-term investments and is net of interest expense paid on certain obligations to third parties. Total cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash, and short-term investments was $57.7 million as of April 30, 2022, compared to $83.6 million as of April 30, 2021.
Interest income, net was approximately $124,000 for both fiscal 2022 and 2021. The change was flat year over year due to an increase in interest rates paid, offset by lower interest earning assets.
Other income (loss) includes a gain on the forgiveness of the PPP loan in fiscal 2022 of $0.9 million and a loss of $0.2 million on the liquidation of Australian subsidiary.
Foreign exchange (loss)/gain
Foreign exchange loss was approximately ($1,000) for fiscal year 2022 as compared to a foreign exchange gain of $15,000 for fiscal year 2021. The difference was attributable primarily to the relative change in value of the British pound sterling, Euro and Australian dollar compared to the U.S. dollar.
Income tax benefit
During the fiscal year ended April 30, 2022, the Company sold New Jersey State net operating losses and research and development credits resulting in the recognition of income tax benefits of $0.4. The Company received the fiscal year 2021 payment of approximately $1.0 million in May, 2021, recognized as an income tax benefit in fiscal 2022. The Company has a full valuation allowance against its deferred tax assets. Also included in the income tax benefit for fiscal year 2022 is a benefit of approximately $0.4 million from the reversal of the valuation allowance resulting from the establishment of a deferred tax liability in connection with the MAR acquisition.
Net cash used in operating activities
During the fiscal year ended April 30, 2022, net cash flows used in operating activities was $21.3 million, an increase of $9.6 million compared to net cash used in operating activities during the fiscal year ended April 30, 2021. This increase is mainly driven by increased net operating losses, as well as the gain on forgiveness of our PPP loan, payment of litigation payable, and decreases in accrued expenses.
Net cash used in investing activities
Net cash used in investing activities during the fiscal year ended April 30, 2022 was approximately $54.0 million for fiscal year 2022 versus net cash used in investing activities of approximately $74,000 for fiscal year 2021. The change was primarily the result of the Company investing the majority of its cash into short-term, held to maturity investments of $49.4 million and the acquisition of MAR of $4.1 million.
Net cash provided by financing activities
Net cash provided by financing activities during the fiscal year ended April 30, 2022 was approximately $87,000 compared to net cash provided by financing activities during the fiscal year ended April 30, 2021 of $84.2 million. The decrease in net cash provided by financing activities during the fiscal year ended April 30, 2022 is due to financing activities from prior year of At the Market capital raises of $62.7 million through AGP and ELOC capital raises of $13.4 million with Aspire, $2.8 million from proceeds associated with warrant exercises, $0.2 million proceeds associated with stock option exercises and $0.9 million received from the PPP loan. None of these occurred in the current year.
Effect of exchange rates on cash and cash equivalents
The effect of exchange rates on cash and cash equivalents was a decrease of approximately $32,000 in fiscal year 2022, and an increase of $134,000 for fiscal year 2021, respectively. The effect of exchange rates on cash and cash equivalents results primarily from gains or losses on consolidation of foreign subsidiaries and foreign denominated cash and cash equivalents.
Liquidity Outlook
Since our inception, the cash flows from customer revenues have not been sufficient to fund our operations and provide the capital resources for our business. For the two years ended April 30, 2022 and 2021, our aggregate revenues were $3.0 million, our aggregate net losses were $33.5 million and our aggregate net cash used in operating activities was $33.1 million.
We expect to devote substantial resources to continue our development efforts for our products and to expand our sales, marketing and manufacturing programs associated with the continued commercialization of our products. Our future capital requirements will depend on a number of factors, including but not limited to:
● our ability to develop, market and commercialize our products, and achieve and sustain profitability;
● our continued development of our proprietary technologies, and expected continued use of cash from operating activities unless or until we achieve positive cash flow from the commercialization of our products and services;
● our ability to obtain additional funding, as and if needed which will be subject to several factors, including market conditions, and our operating performance;
● the continued impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and its variants on our business, operations, customers, suppliers and manufacturers and personnel as well as their effects on supply chain and inflation;
● our acquisitions and our ability to integrate them into our operations may use significant resources, be unsuccessful or expose us to unforeseen liabilities;
● our ability to meet product development, manufacturing and customer delivery deadlines that may be impacted by disruptions to our supply chain, primarily related to labor shortages and manufacturing and transportation delays both here in the U.S. and abroad;
● our estimates regarding future expenses, revenues, and capital requirements;
● our ability to identify and penetrate markets for our products, services, and solutions;
● our ability to implement our commercialization strategy as planned, or at all;
● our relationships with our strategic partners may not be successful and we may not be successful in establishing additional relationships;
● our ability to maintain the listing of our common stock on the NYSE American;
● the reliability of our technology, products and solutions;
● our ability to improve the power output and survivability of our products;
● the impact of pending and threatened litigation on our business, financial condition and liquidity;
● changes in current legislation, regulations and economic conditions that affect the demand for renewable energy, or restrict the use of our products;
● our ability to attract and retain key personnel, including senior management, to achieve our business objectives;
● our history of operating losses, which we expect to continue for at least the short term and possibly longer; and
● our ability to protect our intellectual property portfolio.
Our business is capital intensive, and up through fiscal 2022, we have been funding our business principally through sales of our securities. As of April 30, 2022, the cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash, and short-term investments balance was $57.7 million and we expect to fund our business with this amount and, to a limited extent, with our revenues until we generate sufficient cash flow to internally fund our business. Management believes the Company’s current cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments are sufficient to fund its planned expenditures through at least July 31, 2023.
Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements
Since inception, we have not engaged in any off-balance sheet financing activities.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
In June 2016, the Financial Accounting and Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) No. 2016-13, “Financial Instruments - Credit Losses (Topic 326), Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments.” The amendment in this update replaces the incurred loss impairment methodology in current GAAP with a methodology that reflects expected credit losses on instruments within its scope, including trade receivables. This update is intended to provide financial statement users with more decision-useful information about the expected credit losses. This ASU is effective for annual periods and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2022. The Company is currently evaluating the impact the adoption of ASU 2016-13 but does not expect it to be material to its consolidated financial statements.

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ITEM 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK
ITEM 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK
Not applicable.

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ITEM 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA
ITEM 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA
The financial statements and supplementary data required by this item are listed in Item 15 - “Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules” of this Annual Report.

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ITEM 9. CHANGES IN AND DISAGREEMENTS WITH ACCOUNTANTS
ITEM 9. CHANGES IN AND DISAGREEMENTS WITH ACCOUNTANTS ON ACCOUNTING AND FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE
None.

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ITEM 9A. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES
ITEM 9A. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES
Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures
Disclosure controls and procedures are our controls and other procedures that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by us in the reports that we file or submit under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”) is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms. Disclosure controls and procedures include, without limitation, controls and procedures designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by us in the reports that we file or submit under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, as appropriate, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.
As of the end of the period covered by this Annual Report, we carried out an evaluation, under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures pursuant to Exchange Act Rule 13a-15(b). Based upon that evaluation, as of April 30, 2022, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were effective.
Internal Control over Financial Reporting
The Company’s management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting. Internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States. The Company’s internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that:
● pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the Company;
● provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the Company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the Company; and
● provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use or disposition of the Company’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements
Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.
The Company’s management assessed the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of April 30, 2022. In making this assessment, management used the criteria set forth by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) in Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013). Based on this assessment using those criteria, management concluded that the Company’s internal control over financial reporting was effective as of April 30, 2022.
Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting
No change in our internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) under the Exchange Act) occurred during the quarter ended April 30, 2022 that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

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ITEM 9B. OTHER INFORMATION
ITEM 9B. OTHER INFORMATION
None.

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ITEM 10. DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
ITEM 10. DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
Directors
All of the directors bring to our Board of Directors executive leadership experience from their service as executives and/or directors of our Company and/or other entities. The biography of each director contains information regarding the person’s service as a director, business experience, director positions held currently or at any time during the last five years, and the experiences, qualifications, attributes and skills that caused the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee and our Board of Directors to determine that the person should serve as a director, given our business and structure.
Name
Age
Position(s) with the Company
Served as Director From
Terence J. Cryan
Chairman of the Board
Philipp Stratmann
President, Chief Executive Officer and Director
Clyde W. Hewlett
Independent Director
Diana G. Purcel
Independent Director
Peter E. Slaiby
Independent Director
Natalie Lorenz-Anderson
Independent Director
Terence J. Cryan has been a member of our Board of Directors since October 2012 and Chairman of the board since June 2014. Mr. Cryan was our lead independent director from October 2013 to June 2014 when he became Chairman of the Board. Mr. Cryan currently serves as a Managing Director of MACCO Restructuring Group, LLC, which provides qualified interim leadership and advice to stakeholders across a broad spectrum of business sectors. Since August 2017, Mr. Cryan has served as the Chairman of the Board of Westwater Resources, Inc. Mr. Cryan has served on the boards of directors of a number of other publicly traded companies including Uranium Resources, Inc. from 2006 to 2016; Global Power Equipment Group Inc. from 2008 to 2017; Superior Drilling Products from May 2014 to 2016; Gryphon Gold Corporation from 2009 to 2012; and The Providence Service Corporation from 2009 to 2011. Mr. Cryan served as President and CEO of Global Power Equipment Group Inc., from March 2015 until July 2017. From September 2012 until April 2013, Mr. Cryan served as interim President and CEO of Uranium Resources, Inc., and was elected as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Uranium Resources, Inc. in June 2014 and served until March 2016. Mr. Cryan earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Tufts University in 1983 and a Master of Science degree in Economics from The London School of Economics in 1984. In December 2014, Terence Cryan was named a Board Leadership Fellow by the National Association of Corporate Directors. We believe Mr. Cryan’s qualifications to sit on our Board of Directors include his significant experience in financial matters, his prior board and executive management experience at other companies, his broad energy industry background and his extensive expertise in financings, mergers and acquisitions.
Philipp Stratmann has served as our President, Chief Executive Officer and a member of our Board of Directors since June 2021. Prior to this, Mr. Stratmann served as Vice President - Global Business Development of the Company since 2019. Prior to that, he was Vice President, Biofuels for Velocys, which he joined in 2015 as Business Development Director. He previously served as General Manager Global Development and West Africa for InterMoor and has held leadership positions with Acteon Group and Ernst & Young, in addition to experience with VT Group and Shell. He is a graduate of the United Kingdom’s University of Southampton, where he received his Engineering Doctorate and his Master of Engineering degree in Ship Science. We believe Mr. Stratmann’s significant leadership experience in the energy and maritime industries qualifies him to serve on our Board of Directors.
Clyde W. Hewlett has served on the Board of Directors since December 2020. Mr. Hewlett has over 40 years of experience in offshore engineering design, manufacturing, and operations. Mr. Hewlett has served on the Board of Directors of Seismic City, Inc. since April 2000. From 2015 until 2019, Mr. Hewlett served as Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Oceaneering International, Inc., a global provider of engineered services and products to the offshore energy industry as well as the defense, entertainment, and aerospace industries. Prior to his service as COO, Mr. Hewlett was the Senior Vice President for Projects (from 2007 to 2015) and a Vice President and Project Manager (1988 to 2007) with Oceaneering International, Inc. Prior to joining Oceaneering, Mr. Hewlett worked as in various project engineering and project management roles with Vetco Gray, Inc. (from 1987 to 1988), with Hughes Offshore (from 1985 to 1987), with CanOcean Resources, Ltd. (from 1979 to 1984) and with Esso Canada (from 1978 to 1979). Mr. Hewlett obtained his Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering from Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada in 1978. We believe that Mr. Hewlett’s significant engineering, manufacturing and operational experience in the offshore environment qualifies him to serve on our Board of Directors.
Diana G. Purcel has served on the Board of Directors since December 2020. Ms. Purcel has 20 years of experience as a Chief Financial Officer (CFO) including 17 years with small cap publicly traded companies. Ms. Purcel currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Animal Humane Society (since 2017) and on the Board of Directors of PetMeds Express, Inc. (since April 2022) on their Compensation Committee, Governance and Nominating Committee and as the incoming Audit Committee Chair. She previously served on the Board of Directors of Now Boarding (from 2019 to 2021 when the company was sold) and for Multicultural Foodservice and Hospitality Alliance (from 2005 to 2008), including service as the Chair of its Audit Committee. From 2018 until 2019, Ms. Purcel served as Executive Vice President and CFO for iMedia Brands, Inc. (formerly Evine Live, Inc.), an interactive video and digital commerce company. From 2014 until 2017, Ms. Purcel served as the CFO for Cooper’s Hawk Winery & Restaurants, LLC, which operated restaurants, manufactured private-label wines, and managed the largest wine club in the world. From 2003 until 2014, Ms. Purcel served as CFO, Chief Accounting Officer and Corporate Secretary for BBQ Holdings, Inc. (formerly Famous Dave’s of America, Inc.), which franchised and operated a casual dining restaurant chain in over 35 states. From 1999 until 2003, Ms. Purcel served as CFO, Chief Accounting Officer and Secretary for Paper Warehouse, Inc., a party-good retailer and franchisor in 10 states. Ms. Purcel has also worked with Arthur Andersen & Co. (1988 to 1993) and with other companies including Target Corporation (from 1994 to 1998). Ms. Purcel obtained her Master’s in Business Administration from the University of St. Thomas in 2021, obtained her Bachelor of Science in Management, with a concentration in Accounting, from Tulane University in 1988, and is a certified public accountant (inactive). We believe that Ms. Purcel’s significant financial, strategy and governance experience as a CFO in numerous public and private entities qualifies her to serve on our Board of Directors.
Peter E. Slaiby has served on the Board of Directors since December 2020. Mr. Slaiby has over 39 years of experience in the oil and gas industry including over 37 years working with Royal Dutch Shell. Mr. Slaiby serves on the Board of Directors for Glacier Oil and Gas (since 2019) and The Harris School in Houston, Texas (since 2017). Previously Mr. Slaiby served on the Board of Directors for the Alaska Oil & Gas Association (from 2009 to 2014) including as its Chairman (in 2014) and served on the Chancellors Advisory Board for University of Alaska - Anchorage (from 2010 to 2013). Slaiby is serving as the Managing Director for Quartz Upstream (since 2017) and is serving as Managing Partner for Floris Energy (since April 2020). From 2019 to 2020, Mr. Slaiby was a co-founder for Novara Energy. From 1980 to 2017, Mr. Slaiby worked with Shell in various roles: as Vice President, Decommissioning and Restoration, as Vice President, Shell Alaska, and as Asset Manager - Brunei and UK Shell Petroleum. Mr. Slaiby also worked with Pecten (a Shell subsidiary) as Technical Manager - Cameroon, as Project and Technical Manager - Brazil, and as Project Manager - Syria. Mr. Slaiby began his professional career in 1980 working for Shell Oil Company in various production roles in the Gulf of Mexico. Mr. Slaiby obtained his Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering from Vanderbilt University in 1980. We believe that Mr. Slaiby’s significant experience in the oil and gas industry qualifies him to serve on our Board of Directors.
Natalie Lorenz-Anderson has served on the Board of Directors since December 2021. Ms. Lorenz-Anderson has over 38 years of experience with government contracting and various technology fields including cybersecurity, privacy, risk management, information technology, energy, and solutions management across multiple markets including Defense, National Security, Energy, Environment, and Health. She is a limited partner and advisory member of the Board of Safar Partners LLC, a seed-stage technology venture fund (since 2019), a Board Director for Embr Labs, an MIT technology start-up in personal temperature regulation (since 2020), a Board director for 247Solar Inc, a renewable energy technology start-up (since 2021) and a member of Lutron’s Cyber Advisory Board (since 2022). She is also a Board member of John Hopkins University’s Whiting School of Engineering (since 2017) and its Department of Environmental Health and Engineering (since 2018), a member of the Board and Executive Committee (since 2008) and former Chair of the Board for AFCEA International (from 2008-2010), a Vice President of the Board of Girl Scouts Nation’s Capital Board focusing on STEM topics, and member of the Society of Women Engineers Annual Conference Board (since 2019). From 2017 to Present, Ms. Lorenz-Anderson has been working with 247Solar Inc as a VP for Operations and Special Projects. From 1984 until 2017, Ms. Lorenz-Anderson enjoyed a career in Cybersecurity with Booz Allen Hamilton, including as a Partner and Senior Vice President (from 2002 until 2017) and as Chief Scientist and Program Manager (from 1997 until 2002). Ms. Lorenz-Anderson obtained her Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from MIT in 1984 and Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from John Hopkins University in 1989. We believe that Ms. Lorenz-Anderson’s significant experience in government contracting, information technology, cybersecurity, energy, and the environment qualifies her to serve on our Board of Directors.
Executive Officers
We have two executive officers who are not directors:
Name
Age
Position(s) with the Company
Robert Powers
Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer
Joseph DiPietro
Corporate Controller & Treasurer
Robert Powers joined OPT in December 2021 with more than 25 years of experience providing domestic and international leadership to entrepreneurial, privately owned, and founder-led companies, as well as SEC registrants and private equity backed companies. Prior to OPT, Bob was CFO of Constellation Advisors, a private equity-owned provider of outsourced back-office operations and compliance services. He has held financial leadership roles with Sterling Talent Solutions, Wood Group PPS - a division of Wood Group, GTE, SABIC Innovative Plastics, and Plug Power. He has also provided financial consulting services to various companies. Bob began his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP. He received a Bachelor of Science in Accounting degree from Fordham University and an MBA in Business Administration from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and he is a Certified Public Accountant.
Joseph DiPietro, the Company’s Controller since August 2021, was appointed to the additional positions of the Company’s Treasurer and principal accounting officer in September 2021. Prior to that, Mr. DiPietro spent the prior five years as Vice President - Finance and Corporate Controller of Myos Corp. In addition, he also served in various finance roles at Juno Online, Audible, Celgene, Pfizer and Zoetis. Mr. DiPietro holds a Bachelor of Science in Finance from St. John’s University and is a Certified Public Accountant.
Audit Committee
During the year ended April 30, 2021, the members of our Audit Committee were Diana G. Purcel, Peter E. Slaiby, and Terence Cryan. Ms. Purcel is the chair of the Audit Committee. The Board of Directors has determined that Ms. Purcel is an “audit committee financial expert” within the meaning of the regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). The Audit Committee met 4 times in fiscal 2022. Our Board has also determined that all Audit Committee members meet the independence requirements contemplated by 303A.02 of the NYSE American Rules and Rule 10A-3 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”).
Our Audit Committee assists our Board of Directors in its oversight of the integrity of our consolidated financial statements, our independent registered public accounting firm’s qualifications, independence and performance.
Our Audit Committee’s responsibilities include: appointing, approving the compensation of, and assessing the independence of, our independent registered public accounting firm; overseeing the work of our independent registered public accounting firm, including through the receipt and consideration of reports from our independent registered public accounting firm; reviewing and discussing with management and our independent registered public accounting firm our annual and quarterly consolidated financial statements and related disclosures; monitoring our internal controls over financial reporting, disclosure controls and procedures and code of business conduct and ethics; establishing procedures for the receipt and retention of accounting related complaints and concerns; reviewing related party transaction; ratifying the charter of the Company’s disclosure controls committee; reviewing and assessing management risk assessment and risk management; meeting independently with our independent registered public accounting firm and management; and preparing the Audit Committee report required by SEC regulations.
Material Changes in Director Nominations Process
There have not been any material changes to the procedures by which shareholders may recommend nominees to our Board.
Code of Ethics
We have adopted a Code of Business Conduct and Ethics that applies to our employees, officers (including our principal executive officer and principal financial officer) and independent directors. The Code of Business Conduct and Ethics is posted on our website at www.oceanpowertechnologies.com and can also be obtained free of charge by sending a request to our Secretary at 28 Engelhard Drive, Suite B, Monroe Township, NJ 08831. Any changes to or waivers under the Code of Business Conduct and Ethics as it relates to our chief executive officer, chief financial officer, controller, or persons performing similar functions must be approved by our Board of Directors and will be disclosed in a Current Report on Form 8-K within four business days of the change or waiver.
Section 16(a) Beneficial Ownership Reporting Compliance
Pursuant to Section 16(a) of the Exchange Act and the rules issued thereunder, our executive officers and directors are required to file with the SEC reports of ownership and changes in ownership of Common Stock. Copies of such reports are required to be furnished to us. Based solely on a review of the copies of such reports furnished to us, or written representations that no other reports were required, we believe that all required reports were filed.

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ITEM 11. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
ITEM 11. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
DIRECTOR COMPENSATION
For Board service year 2022, the Board of Directors approved, for each non-employee director, an annual payment of $70,000 and restricted shares of our common stock equal in value to $75,000. Each non-employee director also receives a per annum supplement ranging from $8,000 to $30,000 for each committee that they belong to or chair. In addition, the Chairman of the Board annually receives an additional $75,000.
We reimburse each non-employee director for out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with attending our Board and Board committee meetings. Compensation for our directors, including cash and equity compensation, is determined, and remains subject to adjustment, by the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee of our Board of Directors.
The following table summarizes compensation paid to each of our non-employee directors who served during fiscal year 2022.
Name Fees Earned
or Paid
in Cash
($) (2)
Stock Awards
($)
Option Awards
($)
Total
($)
Terence J. Cryan $ 176,250 $ 75,000 $ - $ 251,250
Clyde W. Hewlett $ 80,750 $ 75,000 $ - $ 155,750
Diana G. Purcel $ 100,650 $ 75,000 $ - $ 175,650
Peter E. Slaiby $ 81,105 $ 75,000 $ - $ 156,105
Natalie Lorenz-Anderson (1) $ 23,274 $ 75,000 $ - $ 98,274
(1) First elected to the Board at the 2021 Annual Meeting of Shareholders on December 10, 2021.
(2) Fees earned or paid in cash reflect annual retainer and committee meeting fees.
The following table summarizes grants during fiscal year 2022.
Name Stock
Awards (1) Option Awards Total
Terence J. Cryan 52,448 - 52,448
Clyde W. Hewlett 52,448 - 52,448
Diana G. Purcel 52,448 - 52,448
Peter E. Slaiby 52,448 - 52,448
Natalie Lorenz-Anderson 52,448 - 52,448
(1) During fiscal year 2022, each non-executive board member was granted restricted stock of 52,448 shares for Board service.
EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
Overview of Executive Compensation
Our Compensation Committee is responsible for overseeing the compensation of all of our executive officers. In this capacity, the Compensation Committee designs, reviews and approves all compensation for our named executive officers. The goal of the Compensation Committee is to ensure that our compensation programs are aligned with our business goals and objectives and that the total compensation paid to each of our named executive officers is fair, reasonable and competitive.
Compensation Objectives and Philosophy
Our compensation programs are designed to attract and retain qualified and talented executives, motivating them to achieve our business goals and rewarding them for superior short- and long-term performance when that performance has been properly demonstrated. In particular, our compensation programs are intended to reward the achievement of specified predetermined quantitative and qualitative goals and to align our executives’ interests with those of our shareholders in order to attain the ultimate objective of increasing shareholder value.
Elements of Total Compensation and Relationship to Performance
Key elements of these programs include:
● base salary compensation designed to reward annual achievements, with consideration given to the executive’s qualifications, scope of responsibility, leadership abilities and management experience and effectiveness;
● short-term incentive program that provides yearly cash bonus awards, where warranted, that are designed to align executive compensation with pre-determined business objectives and demonstrated performance; and
● long-term incentive programs that provide equity-based incentive compensation, over one-to-three year periods, which are primarily in the form of stock options and restricted stock, the value of which is dependent upon the performance of our common stock, and which is subject to multi-year vesting that requires continued service and/or the attainment of certain performance goals.
Determining and Setting Executive Compensation
Under direction from the Compensation Committee, our management develops compensation plans by utilizing publicly available compensation and on-line survey data for a broad selection of national and regional companies, which we believe are generally comparable to the Company in terms of public ownership, organizational structure, size and stage of development, and against which we believe we may compete for executive talent. The results of these analyses and any recommendations by management are reviewed with and approved by the Compensation Committee annually. We believe that these compensation practices provide us with appropriate compensation guidelines. The Compensation Committee generally targets compensation for our executives to be consistent with similarly situated executives in comparable companies covered by the on-line survey data. Other considerations, including market factors, the unique nature of our business and the experience level of an executive, may dictate variations to this general target.
Summary Compensation Table
The following table sets forth the compensation paid or accrued during the fiscal years ended April 30, 2022, and 2021 to our named executive officers.
Name and
Principal Position
Year Salary
($) (1)
Bonus
($) (2)
Stock Awards
($) (3)
Option Awards
($) (4)
All Other Compensation($) Total
($)
Philipp Stratmann $ 344,945 $ 54,000 $ 349,269 $ 116,534 $ 103,162 (7) $ 967,910
President and Chief Executive Officer $ 240,000 $ 33,600 $ - $ 63,622 $ 3,000 (7) $ 340,222
Robert Powers $ 108,182 $ 11,667 $ 284,140 $ - $ - $ 403,989
Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer $ - $ - $ - $ - $ - $ -
Joseph DiPietro $ 133,076 $ 6,729 $ 47,190 $ - $ - $ 186,995
Controller and Treasurer $ - $ - $ - $ - $ - $ -
George H. Kirby III (5) $ 505,480 $ - $ - $ - $ - $ 505,480
Former President and Chief Executive Officer $ 391,140 $ 58,671 $ - $ 374,919 $ 1,500 (8) $ 826,230
Matthew T. Shafer (6) $ 114,874 $ - $ - $ - $ 5,571 (9) $ 120,445
Former Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer $ 253,125 $ 25,313 $ - $ 215,863 $ 10,139 (9) $ 504,440
(1) Salary represents actual salary earned during each fiscal year. The amounts in this column may be different from the amounts listed below under description of employment agreements.
(2) This amount represents bonuses earned by the named executive officers for fiscal years 2022 and 2021. For fiscal year 2022, the Compensation Committee exercised discretion to award bonuses based on the Company’s results of operations and other performance metrics. For fiscal year 2021, the Compensation Committee exercised negative discretion to reduce the bonus percentages from 25% to 20% based on the Company’s results of operations.
(3) The amounts in the “Stock Awards” column reflect the aggregate grant date fair value of restricted stock granted during the year computed in accordance with the provisions of Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) No. 718, “Compensation- Stock Compensation.” The assumptions used in calculating these amounts are incorporated by reference to Note 14 to the financial statements in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended April 30, 2022.
(4) The amounts in the “Option Awards” column reflect the aggregate grant date fair value of stock options granted during the year computed in accordance with the provisions of Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) No. 718, “Compensation- Stock Compensation.” The assumptions used in calculating these amounts are incorporated by reference to Note 14 to the financial statements in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended April 30, 2022.
(5) Mr. Kirby resigned from the Company on June 18, 2021.
(6) Mr. Shafer resigned from the Company on September 22, 2021.
(7) For fiscal year 2022, the amount of $103,162 includes $94,124 of relocation expenses and $9,038 for the Company’s matching contributions to the 401(K) Plan. For fiscal year 2021, the amount of $3,000 relates to the Company’s matching contributions to the 401(K) Plan
(8) For fiscal year 2021, the amount of $1,500 relates to the Company’s matching contributions to the 401(K) Plan. For fiscal year 2020, the amount of $58,805 includes $50,000 for relocation expenses, and $8,805 relates to the Company’s matching contributions to the 401(K) Plan.
(9) For fiscal year 2022, the amount of $5,571 relates to the Company’s matching contribution to the 401(K) Plan. For fiscal year 2021, the amount of $10,139 relates to the Company’s matching contributions to the 401(K) Plan.
Employment Agreements
Philipp Stratmann - President, Chief Executive Officer and Director
Effective June 18, 2021, in connection with his appointment as Chief Executive Officer and President, Mr. Stratmann entered into an Employment Agreement with the Company. Pursuant to the Employment Agreement, Mr. Stratmann will receive an annual base salary of $360,000, is eligible for an annual, discretionary, performance-based bonus targeted at 75% of base salary on such terms and conditions as may be determined by the Board or its Compensation Committee, and is eligible to receive long-term incentive equity based awards, pursuant to the Company’s 2015 Omnibus Incentive Plan, as amended, subject to such terms and conditions as may be determined by the Board or its Compensation Committee. At the time of signing the Employment Agreement, Mr. Stratmann received a one-time grant of 100,000 restricted stock units that vest, if at all, equally over two years with 1/3 of each vesting based on time and 2/3 of each vesting based on positive total shareholder return.
If he is terminated other than for cause within the first 12 months, he will receive six months of salary as severance, and if terminated other than for cause thereafter, he will receive 12 months of salary as severance. Mr. Stratmann is also subject to covenants regarding non-competition, non-solicitation and confidentiality.
Robert Powers - Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Effective December 13, 2021, in connection with his appointment as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Powers entered into an Employment Agreement with the Company. Pursuant to the Employment Agreement, Mr. Powers will receive an annual base salary not to exceed $280,000, is eligible for an annual, discretionary, performance-based bonus targeted at 50% of base salary on such terms and conditions as may be determined by the Board or its Compensation Committee, and is eligible to receive long-term incentive equity based awards, pursuant to the Company’s 2015 Omnibus Incentive Plan, subject to such terms and conditions as may be determined by the Board or its Compensation Committee.
If Mr. Powers is terminated other than for cause (or Mr. Powers quits for good reason) within the first 12 months (but with Mr. Powers having worked at least six months), he will receive three months of salary as severance, and if terminated other than for cause thereafter, he will receive six months of salary as severance. Mr. Powers is also subject to covenants regarding non-competition, non-solicitation and confidentiality.
Joseph DiPietro - Controller and Treasurer
In connection with his promotion in September 2021, Mr. DiPietro entered into a new employment letter. His annual salary was increased to $190,000 and he is eligible for an annual bonus at a target of 25% of his annual salary.
George H. Kirby III - Former President, Chief Executive Officer and Director
A discussion of Mr. Kirby’s employment agreement is not included, as he is no longer an officer or director of the Company.
Matthew T. Shafer - Former Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer
A discussion of Mr. Shafer’s employment agreement is not included, as he is no longer an officer or director of the Company.
Outstanding Equity Awards at Fiscal Year End Table
The following table contains certain information regarding equity awards held by the named executive officers as of April 30, 2022:
Option Awards Stock Awards
Name and
Principal Position
Numbers of Shares Underlying Unexercised Options (#) Exercisable Numbers of Shares Underlying Unexercised Options (#) Unexercisable Option Exercise Price ($) Option Expiration Date Number of Shares or Units of Stock That Have Not Vested
(#)
Market Value of Shares or Units of Stock That Have Not Vested
($)
Philipp Stratmann - 66,667 $ 0.62 6/18/2031 (1)
President and Chief Executive Officer 4,667 4,666 $ 2.93 1/14/2031 (2)
- 18,667 $ 2.93 1/14/2031 (3)
222,333 (4) $ 235,673
Robert Powers
173,000 (5) $ 183,380
Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Joseph DiPietro
33,000 (6) $ 34,980
Controller and Treasurer
There were no outstanding option awards or stock awards related to George H. Kirby or Matthew T. Shafer as of April 30, 2022.
(1) Represents stock options, with market based conditions, granted on June 18, 2021 relating to an aggregate of 66,667 shares which vest over a two- year period when certain market price targets are met.
(2) Represents stock options granted January 14, 2021 relating to an aggregate of 9,333 shares which vest over a two-year period based on service requirements.
(3) Represents stock options, with market based conditions, granted on January 14, 2021 relating to an aggregate of 18,667 shares which vest over a two- year period when certain market price targets are met.
(4) Represents restricted stock, with market based conditions, granted on June 18, 2021 relating to an aggregate 33,333 of which vest over a two year period when certain market price targets are met and granted on January 14, 2022 relating to an aggregate 189,000 of which vest over a three- year period when certain market price targets are met.
(5) Represents restricted stock, with market based conditions, granted on December 13, 2021 relating to an aggregate 75,000 of which vest over a two year period when certain market price targets are met and granted on January 14, 2022 relating to an aggregate 98,000 of which vest over a three- year period when certain market price targets are met.
(6) Represents restricted stock, with market based conditions, granted on January 14, 2022 related to an aggregate 33,000 which vest over a three- year period when certain market price targets are met.
Potential Payments upon Termination of Employment or Change in Control
The following information sets forth the terms of potential payments to each of our named executive officers in the event of a termination of employment. We did not include information for Mr. Kirby or Mr. Shafer since they are no longer employed by the Company. The terms cause, good reason and change of control have the meanings given such terms in the executive’s employment agreement.
Termination by Company without Cause; Termination by Executive for Good Reason. Our employment agreement with each of Messer’s. Stratmann and Powers provide, upon the termination of his employment other than for cause, or if he terminates his employment for good reason, that he has the right to receive severance payments of six months of base salary (for Mr. Stratmann) or three months of his base salary(for Mr. Powers) (during year one of employment) and twelve months of base salary (for Mr. Stratmann) or six months of base salary (for Mr. Powers) thereafter.
Termination by Company for Cause; Termination by Executive without Good Reason. Neither Mr. Stratmann nor Mr. Powers is entitled to any benefits in the event of a termination of the Company for cause or by the executive without good reason. The employment agreement with Mr. DiPietro does not contain provisions regarding severance in the event of a termination by the Company with or without cause or termination by the executive without good reason.
Change in Control. In the event of a termination by the Company in connection with a change of control, or by the executive within 90 days of a change of control, the employment agreements for Mr. Stratmann and Mr. Powers provide for a payment of twelve and three months, respectively, of base salary. The employment agreement for Mr. DiPietro does not contain change of control provisions; therefore, payments for cash severance and continued healthcare benefits are the same as for termination without cause. The restricted stock agreement provides for accelerated stock vesting upon a change in control.
Termination upon Failure to Renew by the Company. In the event that the Company elects not to renew the employment agreement, and the executive terminates their employment within 30 days of notice of non-renewal, the employment agreements for Mr. Stratmann and Mr. Powers provide for a payment of twelve and three months, respectively, of base salary. The employment agreement for Mr. DiPietro does not contain provisions for payments in this event.
Qualifying retirement. Under our restricted stock agreements with the named executive officers, upon a Qualifying Retirement, 50% of unvested restricted shares will vest immediately. A “Qualifying Retirement” means retirement by the recipient after satisfaction of the conditions in either clause (A) or clause (B): (A) the recipient has both (1) attained the age of 55 and (2) completed at least ten years of employment with the Company; or (B) the sum of the recipient’s age plus the number of years he or she has been employed by the Company equals or exceeds 75 years. In addition, the agreements of Messrs. Stratmann and Powers extend the exercisability of vested options to 90 days after any termination event.

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ITEM 12. SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS
ITEM 12. SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS AND MANAGEMENT AND RELATED SHAREHOLDER MATTERS
The following table sets forth certain information regarding the beneficial ownership of Common Stock as of July 13, 2022, by (a) each person known by us to be the beneficial owner of more than 5% of the outstanding shares of Common Stock, (b) each executive officer (c) each director, and (d) all executive officers and directors as a group.
The Percentage of Common Stock outstanding is based on 55,881,861 shares of our Common Stock outstanding as of July 13, 2022. For purposes of the table below, and in accordance with the rules of the SEC, we deem shares of Common Stock subject to options that are currently exercisable or exercisable within sixty days of July 13, 2022 to be outstanding and to be beneficially owned by the person holding the options for the purpose of computing the percentage ownership of that person, but we do not treat them as outstanding for the purpose of computing the percentage ownership of any other person. Except as otherwise noted, each of the persons or entities in this table has sole voting and investing power with respect to all of the shares of Common Stock beneficially owned by such person, subject to community property laws, where applicable. The street address of each beneficial owner shown in the table below is c/o Ocean Power Technologies, Inc., 28 Engelhard Drive, Suite B, Monroe Township, NJ 08831.
Name of Beneficial Owner Number of Shares Beneficially Owned Percentage of Share Beneficially Owned
Philipp Stratmann (1) 83,662 *
Terence J. Cryan (2) 51,205 *
Clyde W. Hewlett (3) 19,129 *
Diana G. Purcel (3) 19,129 *
Peter E. Slaiby (3) 19,129 *
Natalie Lorenz-Anderson (4) - *
Robert Powers (4) - *
Joseph DiPietro (4) - *
All director and executive officers as a group (8 individuals)
* Represents a beneficial ownership of less the one percent of our outstanding common stock
(1) Beneficial ownership includes 28,995 shares of our common stock and 54,667 shares issuable upon the exercise of options that are currently exercisable or exercisable within sixty days of July 13, 2022.
(2) Beneficial ownership includes 248 shares of our common stock and 50,957 shares issuable upon the exercise of options that are currently exercisable or exercisable within sixty days of July 13, 2022.
(3) Beneficial ownership includes 19,129 shares issuable upon the exercise of options that are currently exercisable or exercisable within sixty days of July 13, 2022.
(4) Individual does not have any ownership of our common stock or options that are currently exercisable or exercisable within sixty days of July 13, 2022.
Equity Compensation Plan Information
The following table sets forth the indicated information as of April 30, 2022, with respect to our equity compensation plans:
Plan Category Number of Shares to be Issued Upon Exercise of Outstanding Options and Restricted Stock Weighted-Average Exercise Price of Outstanding Options Number of Shares Remaining Available for Future Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans (Excluding Shares Reflected in First Column)
Equity compensation plans approved by shareholders:
Stock Options 1,320,090 $ 2.17 696,627 (1)
Restricted Stock 787,764 N/A
Equity compensation plans not approved by shareholders:
Stock Options - - -
Restricted Stock 50,000 N/A 261,487 (2)
(1) Consists of shares of our common stock available for issuance under the 2015 Omnibus Incentive Plan.
(2) Consists of shares of our common stock available for issuance under the 2018 Employee Inducement Incentive Award Plan.
Our equity compensation plans consist of a 2006 Stock Incentive Plan and a 2015 Omnibus Incentive Plan which were approved by our shareholders. Once the 2015 Omnibus Incentive Plan was approved by the shareholders on October 22, 2015, no further stock options or other awards were awarded under the 2006 Stock Incentive Plan and it was terminated. Shares that are forfeited under the 2006 Stock Incentive Plan on or after October 22, 2015, will become available for issuance under the 2015 Omnibus Incentive Plan.
The equity compensation plan that has not been approved by our shareholders is our 2018 Employee Inducement Incentive Award Plan.

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ITEM 13. CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED TRANSACTIONS
ITEM 13. CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED TRANSACTIONS, AND DIRECTOR INDEPENDENCE
Board Determination of Independence
Under applicable NYSE American rules, a director will only qualify as an “independent director” if they are not an executive officer or employee of the Company, and, in the opinion of our Board of Directors, that person does not have a relationship which would interfere with the exercise of independent judgment in carrying out the responsibilities of a director.
Our Board has determined that all of our current directors are “independent directors” within the meaning of the applicable listing standards of the NYSE American, except for Philipp Stratmann who is the President and Chief Executive Officer.
Certain Relationship and Related Person Transaction
Review and Approval of Related Person Transactions
The Audit Committee is charged with the responsibility of reviewing and approving all related person transactions (as defined in SEC regulations), and periodically reassessing any related person transaction entered into by the Company to ensure continued appropriateness. This responsibility is set forth in our Audit Committee charter. A related party transaction will only be approved if the members of the Audit Committee determine that the transaction is in the best interests of the Company. If a director is involved in the transaction, he or she will recuse himself or herself from all decisions regarding the transaction.

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ITEM 14. PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING FEES AND SERVICES
ITEM 14. PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING FEES AND SERVICES
Fees of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
The Audit Committee, effective as of December 10, 2021, appointed EisnerAmper, LLP as the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm for the Company’s fiscal year ended April 30, 2022. EisnerAmper, LLP’s PCAOB firm ID is 274.
The following table summarizes the fees of EisnerAmper, LLP and KPMG LLP, our predecessor independent registered public accounting firm, billed to us for each of the last two fiscal years.
EisnerAmper, LLP Audit and Tax Fees
Fiscal Year 2022 Fiscal Year 2021
Audit Fees (1) $ 237,607 $ 150,800
Audit-Related Fees - -
Tax Fees (2) 31,200 -
All Other Fees (3) - -
Total Fees $ 268,807 $ 150,800
KPMG Audit and Tax Fees
Fiscal Year 2022 Fiscal Year 2021
Audit Fees (1) $ 96,600 $ 153,584
Audit-Related Fees - -
Tax Fees (2) - -
All Other Fees (3) 1,898 -
Total Fees $ 98,498 $ 153,584
(1) Audit Fees consist of fees for the audit and quarterly reviews of our consolidated financial statements and other professional services provided in connection with the statutory and regulatory filings or engagements.
(2) Tax Fees include fees for tax consulting and tax return preparation assistance and review for the Company.
(3) All Other Fees for fiscal 2022 includes subscription fee for KPMG’s accounting research tool.
Pre-Approval Policies and Procedures
The Audit Committee’s policy is that all audit services and all non-audit services to be provided to us by our independent registered public accounting firm must be approved in advance by our Audit Committee. The Audit Committee’s approval procedures include the review and approval of a description of the services that documents the fees for all audit services and non-audit services, primarily tax advice and tax return preparation and review.
All audit services and all non-audit services in fiscal years 2022 and 2021 were pre-approved by the Audit Committee. The Audit Committee has determined that the provision of the non-audit services for which these fees were rendered is compatible with maintaining the independent auditor’s independence.
PART IV

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ITEM 15. EXHIBITS, FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES
ITEM 15. EXHIBITS AND FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES
(a) (1) Financial Statements: See Index to Consolidated Financial Statements on page.
(3) Exhibits: See Exhibit Index on pages 58 to 59.