Carnegie Clean Energy has secured Au$15.75 million ($12.2 million) from the Western Australian government to deliver the Albany Wave Energy Project.
The Albany Wave Energy Project will involve the design, manufacturing and installation of a 1MW CETO 6 unit in Carnegie’s existing license area offshore from Torbay and Sandpatch in Albany during the 2019/2020 summer weather window.
Carnegie plans to follow this initial stage with a 20MW expansion which in could in turn lead to a 100MW CETO wave farm at the site.
In addition, the WA government has awarded Au$3.75 million ($2.91 million) to the University of Western Australia to establish and manage an associated Wave Energy Research Centre in Albany.
The Wave Energy Research Centre is expected to bring together more than 30 researchers to support Carnegie’s ongoing research into wave, tidal and offshore wind energy.
Michael Ottaviano , Carnegie’s Managing Director, said: “With wave energy, we have the potential to take advantage of our local technology and resource advantage to build an industry we can commercialize and export globally. Having a globally recognized Wave Energy Research Centre in Western Australia will also attract national and international interest from research and industry participants.”
In parallel, the board of Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has conditionally approved Carnegie’s request to move ARENA’s CETO 6 Project funding from Garden Island to Albany, subject to the signing of the detailed documentation.
Accordingly, the remaining Au$11.7 million ($9 million) grant funding from ARENA’s CETO 6 Project funding will also be available to deliver the Albany Wave Energy Project, Carnegie said.
Carnegie added it will continue to use the Garden Island site for its own wave energy research and prototype testing as well as working with other wave energy developers at the site.
The funding for the Albany Wave Energy Project was secured from the Western Australian government’ s Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development following a competitive tender process.
In addition to demonstrating Carnegie’s WA developed and owned technology, the project will also deliver common user infrastructure at Albany site which Carnegie will make available for other wave energy industry developers once the CETO 6 project is complete.