Carnegie Wave Mauritius microgrid project wins $800,000 federal govt backing

The plans of Australian wave power developer Carnegie Wave Energy to use its world-leading CETO technology to develop a renewable energy microgrid for Mauritius have received another boost, after the project was awarded $800,000 of funding from the Australian government.

The funding, which will be controlled by the Mauritian Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, will go towards the study and design of high penetration renewable energy microgrids incorporating wave energy on Mauritius and the neighbouring island of Rodrigues.

Screen Shot 2015-12-11 at 11.07.46 am
Australia’s High Commissioner to Mauritius, Susan Coles, and Carnegie COO Greg Allen at Carnegie’s Private Wave Energy Research Facility in Fremantle

It comes less than two weeks after the ASX-listed Carnegie closed its latest funding round, having raised $7.5 million towards the commercialisation of its CETO technology – $2.5 million more than the company had hoped to raise.

The initial phase of the $990,000 Mauritius project will focus on three areas, including the delivery of a renewable energy roadmap for the island nation; the assessment of the Mauritian wave resource and the identification of a preferred CETO array site; and the design of a microgrid powered desalination plant on the Mauritian island of Rodrigues.

2015 has been a big year for Carnegie, with the switching on of its ground-breaking array of CETO 5 generators off Garden Island in March – the world’s first grid-connected wave energy plant.

The company also completed the conceptual phase of its CETO 6 design, with a roughly four-times increase in rated capacity to 1MW; and set to work on the world’s first wave-integrated renewable energy microgrid project to be connected to an electricity network.

As reported, the Garden Island Microgrid Project will consist of Carnegie’s CETO 6 array, the existing reverse osmosis desalination plant currently operating on Garden Island after being switched on in October, plus 2MW of solar PV power generation and sufficient energy storage to allow safe, stable and reliable interaction with the electricity grid.

CarnegieCETOaerial

One of the main aims of the Garden Island project has been to provide a viable commercial model for islands, and edge of grid and remote communities.

And it has already generated a lot of interest. In April, Carnegie signed a deal to develop wave energy projects in Chile and Peru, to help supply renewable energy and water to some of the region’s remote island outposts.



The deal extends to developing marine energy in the Valparaiso Region, including the Easter and Robinson Crusoe Islands – two of the most remote inhabited islands in the world.

In a statement following this week’s announcement of the $800,000 funding for Carnegie’s Mauritius project, CEO Dr Michael Ottaviano commended the federal government for demonstrating its commitment to renewable microgrid solutions.

“Projects like Carnegie’s Garden Island Microgrid can be the model for Mauritius and island communities globally and will be at the forefront of addressing climate change and sustainability for small island developing states and least developed states,” he said.

Comments

5 responses to “Carnegie Wave Mauritius microgrid project wins $800,000 federal govt backing”

  1. juxx0r Avatar
    juxx0r

    Given that there has been a total absence of information released on the productivity of the CETO units or the array or the desalination, one can only conclude that CETO is better at producing government grants than electricity or water.

    1. Ian Avatar
      Ian

      Oh, don’t be so mean. They are testing a concept. Wave energy, solar energy, battery storage and desalination. Australia has a special interest in the smaller island nations, if they can have security of energy and water supply using local resources, without relying on expensive imported fuels that has got to improve their well being.

      1. juxx0r Avatar
        juxx0r

        Exactly, testing has results, the least that they could do is share those results with their shareholders.

  2. Kevin Williams Avatar
    Kevin Williams

    The original brains behind CETO is long gone and the current management are only intent on keeping their pockets lined and shrouding everything in secrecy. The CEO Mike Ottaviano is on a ridiculous salary package. They are the ones who are mean.

  3. jrdbull Avatar
    jrdbull

    Another government handout to Carnegie. They cant stand up on their own two feet without exploiting foolish politicians and in turn the Australia Taxpayer and gullible shareholders. All this money is just lining Executive Managements pockets. Its a farce. Note there is no wave technology for stage one, highly likely due to the fact the Carnegie wave technology isn’t viable at present, not only on mainland but also on remote islands. It has a high $/w installed and that coupled with O&M means a ridiculous LCOE. The engineering undertaken looks suspiciously like a cut and past of Garden Island, 800k misspent! When will the Australian government wake up to these charlatans? Who in the government is undertaking due diligence on where all this money is going? If you look at their financials it’s very clear!

Get up to 3 quotes from pre-vetted solar (and battery) installers.