New wave of economical power

Daily Telegraph
Tuesday 30/9/2008 Page: 45

CLEAN power group Carnegie Corporation says more than a third of Australia's base-load power needs could be economically generated by wave technology. Australia has a potential near-shore wave energy resource of about 171,000 megawatts, four times the country's installed power generation capacity, Carnegie Corporation said yesterday citing a report it commissioned from RPS MetOcean. "This report further supports Carnegie Corporation's view that Australia has the world's best wave energy resource a resource we hope will be utilised through technologies such as CETO for base-load power generation," managing director Michael Ottaviano said.

CETO technology uses submerged units anchored to the sea floor that move with the motion of passing waves, driving pumps which in turn pressurise seawater that is delivered ashore through a pipeline. The high-pressure seawater is used to drive hydroelectric turbines and generate base-load electricity. Carnegie Corporation said a "conservative" 10 per cent of Australia's calculated near-shore wave resource was estimated to be economically extractable.