Carnegie eyes 100MW wave farm in Albany if Labor wins W.A. poll

Perth-based Carnegie Clean Energy says it will consider a 20MW wave farm off the cost of Albany in West Australia if Labor wins the state poll and delivers on a commitment to provide $19.5 million of funding.

Carnegie, which is currently preparing its first full-size wave farm off the coast of Fremantle, helping to supply Garden Island naval base with a mixture of wave and solar energy and battery storage, says the Albany plant could be upgraded to 100MW.

It will likely start with a 1MW pilot project before moving to a 20MW installation, using its CETO 6 technology  (pictured above) – the first wave energy technology in the world that to be deployed with multiple units.

Carnegie CEO Michael Ottaviano said the Albany wave farm would be an opportunity to tap into a highly consistent renewable resource; delivering “24/7 clean power” into the electrical grid at a time where recognition of the importance of reliable, clean energy in Australia has never been higher.

“Albany has one the most consistent wave energy resources in the world, experiencing greater than 1m swell 99.7 per cent of the time,” he said in a statement. “The project presents a fantastic opportunity for local industry capability and export.”

The idea is to create a e Wave Energy Centre of Excellence in collaboration with the University of Western Australia’s Oceans Institute and Albany Campus and to build on existing world-leading capabilities and international research relationships.

“It’s time for Australia to embrace the potential of wave energy,” Ottaviano said.

“It is well understood that our wave resource is the best in the world. It is essential that we take advantage of this resource and the world-leading capability and technology that exists in companies like Carnegie.

“Wave energy justifiably demands the sort of investment that other power technologies, whether fossil fuel or renewable, have benefited from.

“Unlike other power technologies where Australia has become a “technology taker”, wave has the potential to build an industry we can commercialise locally and export globally.”

Carnegie says it has been working on plans for a wave farm in Albany for nearly a decade and has spent over $1million on studies, surveys and designs for the region, including site assessment, wave resource mapping, licensing and site design.

It has a site license for its proposed Albany wave farm, offshore from Torbay and Sandpatch. The project will move through a structured design and development process, including full consideration of environment, Native Title and planning.