Carnegie installs second CETO 5 unit at WA wave energy project

Western Australian wave energy developer Carnegie Wave Energy has installed the second of its home-grown CETO 5 power generation units in waters south of Perth, where it has been operating successfully for over a week.

The ASX-listed company said on Tuesday that the unit was installed in one day at its Perth Wave Energy Project site off Garden Island, where it is operating alongside the first CETO 5 unit, installed in November last year.

The second CETO 5 unit being installed off Garden Island, WA

Last week, Carnegie Wave completed its onshore power plant for the Perth Project, which when operating will become the first commercial-scale grid connected wave energy and desalinated water project.

As reported last week, the completion of the onshore plant triggered a payment to Carnegie of $54,444 from the WA government under its LEED Grant.

Carnegie also submitted a payment claim worth $316,785 for the completion of the milestone to the federal government granted under its ARENA Emerging Renewables Program.

Both installed CETO units are generating electricity against a load bank onshore, awaiting final approval from Western Power to transfer electricity to the grid at HMAS Stirling.

The third and final CETO 5 unit has been moved to the Australian Maritime Complex (AMC) in Henderson for final fit out ahead of its installation, which is expected to take place in around a month.

The demonstration project’s key objectives are to demonstrate the viability of the CETO technology and learn from the experience of deploying and operating multiple CETO units and the complete CETO system.

CETO Units 1 and 2 [circled]It is also the only wave project to consist of more than one wave unit connected together and the only wave project to produce both power and freshwater.

“The integration of multiple wave energy convertors is critical to demonstrating the principles of future CETO wave farms,” said Carnegie managing director Michael Ottaviano.

“With the recent completion of onshore plant and grid connection works, we are eagerly anticipating the world-first milestone of feeding electricity into the grid at HMAS Stirling.”