Johnson gets ‘Pioneer Award’

Ted Johnson, an employee of Lockheed Martin, Manassas, was recently honored by the Ocean Energy Council with its prestigious Ocean Energy Pioneer Award for his support of Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion technology.

The technology uses the ocean’s energy to produce a significant amount of constant, renewable, non-polluting power.

Lockheed has been involved in research and development of such technologies for 30 years and Johnson was part of the division in Sunnyvale, Calif., that successfully built and tested the world’s first successful floating system in the late 1980s.

Today, Johnson is the program business development director and leads Lockheed efforts to bring modern, commercial utility-scaled plants to market. In 2008, Lockheed was awarded a U.S. Department of Energy contract to demonstrate a modern fabrication approach for a cold water pipe, a key component of the system.

“I’m honored to receive this award from the Ocean Energy Council,” said Johnson. “Lockheed Martin’s leadership position on OTEC technology will ultimately produce a new energy source that is clean and fully sustainable.”

OEC is a nonprofit organization advocating the development and implementation of ocean energy as a sustainable, renewable energy source. Through the Pioneer award, OEC recognizes individuals and institutions that have made a significant contribution to the promotion, education and implementation of ocean energy around the world.

The award to Johnson, a resident of Warrenton, was made at the sixth annual Energy Ocean conference in Rockport, Maine.

Staff writer Bennie Scarton Jr. can be reached at 703-369-6707.