Wave energy developer Carnegie Wave Energy Limited advises that its next generation commercial scale CETO unit (CETO 4) has been manufactured and delivered to its deployment location on Reunion Island by French marine defence contractor DCNS.
The unit will now undergo pre-deployment testing similar to the CETO 3 pre-deployment testing undertaken by Carnegie at its Fremantle test facility in Western Australia earlier this year. Once pre-deployment testing is completed, and subject to completion of some final installation aids, offshore installation is currently scheduled to take place during the Southern Hemisphere summer.
The CETO 4 unit will be deployed and tested offshore at the Reunion Island project site. Successful testing and operation of CETO 4 is planned to be followed by a grid-connected 2MW CETO project at the same site with subsequent further expansion to 15MW. Activities to date have been two-thirds funded by French Government grants and the grid connected project will receive a marine energy feed-in tariff.
Carnegie’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Dr Michael Ottaviano said,
“The CETO 4 project represents the first joint project activities of Carnegie, EDF EN and DCNS. As well as testing the CETO system in a different wave climate, we’ve taken the opportunity to test some new design ideas. We’re grateful to the support of the French Government and the local Reunion region.”
The activities associated with Reunion Island and CETO 4 follow on from the signing of a CETO technology licence and joint venture agreement with EDF EN in 2009 and a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with EDF EN and DCNS in 2010. The MoU outlined the intention of the parties to work together to test a single CETO unit ahead of a 2MW CETO project which would be expanded to a 15MW project at the same site at Reunion Island.
DCNS performs engineering, procurement, and construction management (EPC) activities for the project. The CETO 4 unit involves some design modifications from the recently tested and independently verified CETO 3 unit deployed off Western Australia.
The activities are consistent with the Carnegie and EDF EN technology licence and joint venture agreement which established the framework for Carnegie and EDF EN to work together to jointly deliver projects in the Northern Hemisphere and on Reunion Island. All commercial stages beyond the initial CETO 4 unit deployment will result in Carnegie being paid a fee for licensing the CETO technology to the projects.
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Source: carnegiewave, September 26, 2011