Wave power fuels prototype

The West Australian, Page: 51
Tuesday, 16 May 2006

London-listed Renewable Energy Holdings plans to spend up to $6 million building a commercial prototype wave power generator after successful trials of the groundbreaking invention off Fremantle. REH chief executive Mike Proffitt said the so-called CETO unit, invented by WA businessman Alan Burns, had produced both electricity and fresh water, proving that the concept worked. The company would now push ahead with design and engineering for a medium-scale trial using multiple units that it hoped would be in the water by the end of 2007, before moving on to a commercial-sized plant, he said. "People will then be able to get more comfortable with the technology, see it in action, and then that working unit will be the basis of the business and marketing plan going forward," he said.

Mr Proffitt said REH, which is listed on London's Alternative Investment Market and whose shareholders include Australian renewable energy group Pacific Hydro (14 per cent) and Perth-based venture capital company Carnegie Corporation (8 per cent), had funding already in place for the next stage of the CETO development. The CETO unit, which is the first wave power generator to sit on the seabed, unlike other floating or semi-submersible versions of the technology, is like a giant foot pump that uses the power and movement of waves to force highly pressurised sea water to shore through a small pipe. Once on shore the pressurised water can be used to drive a turbine generator, or it can be pushed through a reverse osmosis filter to produce fresh water. More than $5 million has been spent in the research and development phase since the wave power machine was invented by Mr Burns in 1999. Mr Burns, REH's technical director and chairman of Carnegie and oil and gas group Hardman Resources, said commercialising the technology would not require a super-sized unit but would rely on installing banks of units connected together.

Mr Burns said the company had already earmarked a possible site west of Garden Island where a bank of units could produce between 300MW and 1300MW of power and 330 megalitres a day of fresh water. "An array of converters out the back of Garden Island could produce all we need," he said. "The south-west coast of WA is one of the world's most active oceans for wave energy. "We have the Saudi Arabia of wave energy here in WA."

The energy in waves is estimated to be 100 times denser than other forms of renewable energy such as wind or solar and wave energy has become increasingly popular in the growing worldwide push for renewable energy projects. Wave energy development began in the 1970s and the market is now moving into pre-commercial trials. Seven companies globally have installed wave energy systems which are producing small amounts of electricity in Scotland, Portugal and Hawaii. Mr Burns said wave energy was more predictable than wind and even 10cm waves were enough to generate electricity.