After almost ten years developing the CETO technology, Carnegie’s proposed Commercial Demonstration Wave Power Project (CDWPP) is receiving recognition and investment.

The site for CDWPP is expected to be announced by Carnegie in mid-2009. In the meantime, the company is continuing to carry out feasibility studies at its portfolio of potential project sites across southern Australia.

Government support

In February this year, Carnegie received $12.5 million in funding from the Western Australian Government for development at its existing research centre in Fremantle, and signed a license agreement with the South Australian Government to investigate a suitable site for the development of a new wave power project. The license area covers approximately 17,000 hectares of seabed adjacent to Port MacDonnell near Mt Gambier in the State’s southeast.

The company also received approval from the Victorian Government in March to use and develop coastal Crown land for three wave energy projects: to undertake marine surveys and to trial the CETO wave energy technology at Portland, Warrnambool and Phillip Island.

Business support

The business side of the CDWPP project is also progressing. In April, the company entered into a Heads of Agreement (HoA) with Investec Bank, formalising the bank’s intentions to finance up to $250 million for the demonstration project. The HoA is conditional upon the successful outcome of a funding application for a slice of the Federal Government’s $435 million Renewable Energy Demonstration Program, a scheme that was officially launched at Carnegie’s Fremantle research facility in February.

The company has entered another HoA with Renewable Energy Holdings (REH), in which Carnegie will acquire ownership of the CETO Technology. Carnegie was previously only the Southern Hemisphere licensee of the CETO Wave Technology.

The agreement with REH will also allow Carnegie to spread its reach to Europe’s wave power market, giving the company access to develop CETO power projects in the Northern Hemisphere markets.

Developing CETO technology

Carnegie’s initial development of the CETO technology began in 1999, with construction of the first prototype unit starting at the end of 2003. In 2006, the CETO 1 prototype proved the concept of generating zero-emission power and freshwater from the ocean waves.

Between 2006 and 2008, the technology was modified to develop and test a pre-commercial prototype CETO 2 model that was tested off the coast of Fremantle in Western Australia.

Murdoch University’s Professor David Harries explains that while there are approximately 50 ocean wave conversion technologies under development around the world – of which there are approximately ten generic types – the CETO technology has two distinct features. Firstly, it uses a subsea system to deliver high pressure seawater ashore, ensuring expensive equipment, generators and wiring is kept out of the water. The second advantage of the system is that it does not sit on top of the water but below the surface, reducing the risk of storm and other damage.

“The CETO is very different to other technologies being developed, and if Carnegie’s plan to build a 50 MW wave power station…is realised it will make the company a world leader,” says Prof Harries.