Perth Wave Energy Project closer to completion

Carnegie Wave Energy has revealed three CETO 5 buoyant actuators to be used in its Perth Wave Energy Project (PWEP) - the first operating wave energy array project in the world and the first to produce both clean energy and fresh water. To be commissioned in the coming months, the project will supply power and water to the Australian Department of Defence for use at HMAS Stirling, Australia’s largest naval base, located on Garden Island.

The three 240 kW actuators were unveiled yesterday by the Federal Minister for Industry, Ian Macfarlane; the Western Australian Minister for Energy, Dr Mike Nahan; and the CEO of ARENA, Ivor Frishknecht. The units are now being fitted out with instrumentation and energy relief systems ahead of assembly to the tethers, pumps and foundation connectors.

Ivor Frishknecht, Ian Macfarlane, Michael Ottaviano and Grant Mooney at the CETO launch.

Unlike other wave energy devices, the CETO system will operate underwater, where it is safer from large storms and invisible from the shore. Tethered to seabed pump units, the buoys move with the motion of the passing waves and drive the pumps. The pumps pressurise fluid which is then used to drive hydro-turbines, generating zero-emission electricity; as well as being fed into a reverse osmosis desalination plant.

WA Environment Minister Albert Jacob noted, “Wave energy has low variability and high predictability 24 hours a day and is often available when the sun and wind are limited. The wave farm harnesses the enormous and untapped renewable energy in our oceans’ waves and converts it into two of the most valuable resources on the planet - low-emissions electricity and low-emissions desalinated water.”

The PWEP is supported by $13.1 million in Australian Government funding through ARENA’s Emerging Renewables Program. It is also supported by $9.96 million from the WA Government’s Low Emissions Energy Development (LEED) Fund. Dr Nahan said Carnegie has so far spent $80 million on the project, with a further $20 million due by the end of the year.

Carnegie’s managing director, Dr Michael Ottaviano, said the buoys “represent the pointy end of the Perth Wave Energy Project” and “the finish line is in sight”. The project is planned for final switch-on in mid-2014.

“Once it’s developed on a larger scale,” said Macfarlane, “this type of alternative energy source will play a role in helping to lower carbon emissions, both in Australia and in other countries.”