Carnegie Clean Energy has won a $15,750,000 grant from the WA Government’s Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development to deliver a Wave Energy Project in Albany.
The project, which has been in the pipeline for over 5 years, will involve the design, manufacture and install of a CETO 6 unit in Albany during the 2019/20 summer weather window.
It will also deliver common user infrastructure at the Albany site which the company will make available for other wave energy industry developers once the CETO 6 project is complete.
Initially, the technology was to be deployed at the company’s Garden Island site. However, the plans were changed after ARENA approved the company’s request to transfer the undrawn $11.7 million CETO 6 Project funding from Garden Island to Albany, subject to the signing of the detailed documentation.
Carnegie said it will continue to use its Garden Island facility to conduct its own wave energy research and prototype testing, in addition to working with other wave energy developers at the site.
Carnegie’s Managing Director, De Michael Ottaviano, said the project aims to demonstrate the company’s commercial prototype, the CETO 6 unit, as well as the potential for WA and Australia to tap into a highly consistent renewable resource.
“Carnegie is delighted to be chosen as the recipient of the WA Government grant to establish the Albany Wave Energy Project,” Mr Ottaviano stated.
“With wave energy, we have the potential to take advantage of our local technology and resource advantage to build an industry we can commercialise and export globally.”
According to the company, work on the Albany project will commence immediately, with upcoming activities to include project design, wave buoy deployment, site surveys, community consultations and approvals.
In addition to the Carnegie grant, the State Government awarded $3.75 million to the University of Western Australia (UWA) to establish an associated national Wave Energy Research Centre co located in Albany.
The centre, which will be run by UWA’s Oceans Institute and its Albany Campus, will bring together more than 30 researchers from UWA and multidisciplinary experts to support Carnegie’s ongoing research into wave, tidal and offshore wind energy.
Mr Ottaviano said Carnegie will play significant role in the Wave Energy Research Centre through close collaboration with UWA and all of the Research Centre’s partners.
“Having a globally recognised Wave Energy Research Centre in Western Australia will also attract national and international interest from research and industry participants,” he added.
UWA Vice-Chancellor Professor Dawn Freshwater said the Wave Energy Research Centre will put the state at the forefront of offshore renewable energy research and technology and help increase the University’s knowledge and understanding of wave, tidal and offshore wind energy.
“The University is a global leader in offshore engineering, with world-class geotechnical and hydrodynamic laboratory facilities at both the Albany and Crawley campuses, so is well placed to coordinate research and technology into renewable wave energy,” Professor Freshwater said.
“University researchers will bring expertise in areas such as offshore engineering, oceanography, marine biology, marine planning and management, marine policy and law, commerce and economics. The UWA Albany campus will work in collaboration with researchers at UWA’s Crawley campus.”
