For the past 12 months, Carnegie has been undertaking feasibility studies on potential wave project sites around Western Australia in the mid-west, south-west and metropolitan regions under its wave energy investigation licenses covering waters throughout the State. The investigations have been conducted in conjunction with independent technical experts Arup, Atteris, RPS MetOcean and GHD.
The Garden Island site was selected due to its optimum combination of a range of technical and economic factors including wave resource characteristics, environmental factors, pipeline route options, grid connectivity, water depth, scale of plant and deployment and servicing logistics.
Subject to the receipt of all approvals, the small scale commercial demonstration project will be a 5MW scheme, and will utilise Carnegie’s $12.5M LEED grant from the Western Australia Government announced earlier this year, subject to the finalisation of contracts. The grant funds will be paid on milestone basis and require $1 for $3 in matched funding. Detailed cost and design activities will be undertaken at the front end of the project.
The primary aim of the project is to demonstrate the CETO technology in commercial operation for the first time. However, it will also deliver Carnegie its first project-based revenues from the sale of power.
Garden Island is home to Australia’s largest Naval Base (HMAS Stirling) and is connected to the mainland via a causeway and to WA’s main electricity transmission grid, the South-West Interconnect System (SWIS). Earlier this year Carnegie and the Department of Defence signed a Memorandum of Understanding outlining their intent to investigate the feasibility of a Carnegie wave power project on Garden Island.
The Project will be deployed in two stages; the first will involve the deployment of single autonomous, commercial scale CETO units. These stand-alone units consist of a CETO unit coupled to energy dissipation and instrumentation systems to validate the energy delivery performance of each unit. The performance data is transmitted back to Carnegie’s Fremantle facility for monitoring and analysis. Planning, design and approval aspects of Stage 1 began at the start of 2009 and Stage 1 is expected to be completed in 2010.
The second stage of the project is the deployment of the remaining CETO units and associated balance of plant including pipework and an onshore power generation system required for the 5MW plant. This is expected to occur in 2011.
Feasibility studies continue on other potential project sites around Australia and internationally and a decision on whether the first lproject will be located in Australia is expected soon.
