WA Labor party $19.5M wave farm pledge sparks CCE’s interest

Carnegie Clean Energy (CCE) has shown interest for the development of Albany wave farm that received Au$19.5 million commitment from the Western Australia’s (WA) Labor party should they be elected in March.

The project would represent the first commercial scale wave farm in Australia, according to CCE, and would be delivered in stages, involving an initial 1MW unit followed by a 20MW wave farm that could result in over Au$100 million of local investment.

The initial commitment made by the WA Labor party could lead to the expansion of the project to 100MW, should the 20MW wave farm demonstration prove successful, CCE said.

Michael Ottaviano, Carnegie’s Managing Director, said: “It’s time for Australia to embrace the potential of wave energy. 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 commercialize locally and export globally.”

The Australian clean energy developer, CCE, has been working on plans for a wave farm in Albany for nearly a decade and has spent over Au$1million on studies, surveys and designs for the region, including site assessment, wave resource mapping, licensing and site design, the company noted.

CCE also has a site license for its proposed Albany wave farm, offshore from Torbay and Sandpatch.

Associated with Carnegie’s Albany wave project is the establishment of the Wave Energy Centre of Excellence in collaboration with the University of Western Australia’s Oceans Institute and Albany Campus.

The Centre of Excellence is expected to draw together the capabilities of Carnegie’s CETO technology and existing Australian and international research relationships.