Carnegie Wave Energy Dr Michael Ottaviano, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Carnegie Wave Energy Limited

Latest developments

Over the last 12 months, Carnegie has successfully completed the design, manufacturing, testing and operation of its commercial-scale wave energy unit off the coast of Western Australia at Australia’s largest naval base on Garden Island. In doing so, we have drawn down on $2 million of our $12.5 million Western Australian Government grant, provided through the Low Emissions Energy Development Fund.

Additionally, we have received grant funding from the Irish Government to complete the conceptual design for a 5 megawatt (MW) project there, and French Government funding for a Carnegie Wave Project in joint venture with French power giant EDF EN.

1 year outlook

Commencement of our first grid-connected, commercial demonstration project of between 2 to 5 MW and continued development of our international pipeline of project sites across Australasia, the Americas, western Europe and remote islands.

Putting a price in carbon

A carbon price will assist in delivering some momentum back into the Australian clean energy sector for investors as well as increasing the power tariff that a Carnegie wave farm will receive. It is important that a significant proportion of the revenue from carbon pricing is channelled into the development of clean technologies like wave power.

BioPower Systems Dr Timothy Finnigan, Chief Executive Officer, BioPower Systems

Latest developments

Through an agreement with Diamond Energy Pty Ltd, we secured land access, onshore development rights, and project feasibility data for a commercial-scale wave energy site near Port Fairy, Victoria. We have since gathered measurements on the wave conditions, and have commenced development activities for the first phase of the project, which involves installation and demonstration of a grid-connected 250 kilowatt (kW) bioWAVETM ocean wave energy system. The site is considered ideal for further expansion, and following the pilot demonstration, we would consider establishing a wave farm at the location.

We have also firmed up our project pipeline for bioWAVE by working with our project partners in the United States and Spain. Engineering concept designs have been produced for our planned 1 MW bioWAVE commercial-scale system, which would be our flagship product deployed in these larger projects. These developments are part of our efforts to establish market opportunities, and to be prepared to deliver to them, when our planned pilot demonstration is completed.

Last August, the company relocated its headquarters to a combined office and industrial facility where we have established a test centre for our O-DriveTM power conversion equipment. The O-Drive is a self-contained detachable module that plugs into the bioWAVE system, and includes all the components that effectively convert the slow oscillating motions of the bioWAVE to grid-ready electricity.

The test centre features a high-capacity grid connection for factory testing of full-scale power conversion equipment, prior to ocean deployment. We have invested a lot of time and effort into making sure our O-Drive system is reliable, safe, and optimised for high-performance. So far the results have exceeded our expectations. Following the exhaustive dry-tests, the O-Drive will be installed into a 250 kW bioWAVE pilot system, which we are preparing to build and then deploy at the Port Fairy site.

1 year outlook

Over the next 12 months, our main focus will be to advance the completion of our planned pilot demonstration at Port Fairy as far as possible. This is a 30 m high industrial system, deployed in the ocean, and that requires a lot of planning and careful assessment. We are making sure we get the engineering right before we go to sea with it.

Putting a price in carbon

Over time, and through a transition to an emissions trading scheme, the carbon pricing mechanism should help make wave energy projects economically viable. It is important that such schemes are maintained, over the long term, as lenders and investors need to understand revenue models that extend out 20 to 30 years. For example, in the case of the Large-scale Renewable Energy Target, it only extends to 2030, which is not long enough when you consider that our first large-scale commercial projects may still be a few years off.

Oceanlinx Dr Tom Denniss, founder of Oceanlinx Limited

Latest developments

The past 12 months have been witness to several milestones for Oceanlinx. The company has successfully sold electricity into the national grid via Integral Energy, receiving its first revenues from power sales. Oceanlinx is the first wave energy company in Australia to have achieved this milestone, and only the third in the world. The company has also now finalised development of its fully commercial products for shallow and deep water, named greenWAVE and blueWAVE respectively, as well as improving the performance and reliability of its airWAVE turbine. And not to forget, the company won the award for the Most Outstanding Clean Energy Technology Innovation at the Annual EcoGen Conference in Sydney in September 2010.

1 year outlook

Oceanlinx is now ready to implement wave energy plants on a fully commercial basis throughout the world. The company is in negotiations with several parties and governments in both Australia and internationally in respect to its next commercially operating projects. The next 12 months should see one or more of these projects close to commissioning.

Putting a price in carbon

The Australian Government’s proposed carbon pricing scheme will create an impetus for investment in renewables by utilities, energy companies, and high emission industries. This increased level of financial commitment will undoubtedly improve the likelihood of funds flowing into wave energy projects in Australia, thereby fast-tracking the uptake of the Oceanlinx technology.