Hobart Mercury
Monday 29/9/2008 Page: 7
TWO-THIRDS of Tasmania's energy needs could be generated from waves, says a renewable energy company. Carnegie Corporation is in talks with the State Government about setting up a wave energy trial in Tasmania. The West Australian company will release an independent report to the stock exchange today, estimating Australia has a wave-energy resource of 170,000 megawatts, including 17,000MW in Tasmanian waters.
Of that, the report found 1700MW. or 68 per cent of the state's energy needs, was economically extractable. Managing director Michael Ottaviano said Tasmania had a wave-energy resource as good as any in the world. "Front a Tasmanian point of view, wave energy aligns so well with other renewable [energy] and in particular Hydro which has been hit more recently with water shortages," Dr Ottaviano said.
He said his firm had spoken with the State Government. However, he said other states, including Victoria and Western Australia were competing for commercial trials. The technology is called CETO, after a Greek goddess. Submerged buoys move with the motion of passing waves to drive seabed pump units which deliver pressurised seawater to the shore via a pipeline.
The high-pressure seawater is used to drive hydro-electric turbines and can also be used to supply a desalination plant. The company hopes to have the technology ready for commercial application by next year and predicts it could be competing with the coal industry as a base-load power generator in five to 10 years. Dr Ottaviano said the technology was already cost competitive with other renewables such as wind and solar energy but had the advantage of constant supply.
Greens energy spokesman Kim Booth said the technology had enormous potential. "It think that would be a fabulous thing that the Government ought to have serious look at." he said. "It is the sort of thing they should have done instead of spending $92 million a year on the Basslink cable." In May, Hydro Tasmania signed a memorandum of understanding with Sydney BioPower systems to generate tidal and wave power to 500 homes on King Island and Flinders Islands. A Hydro spokeswoman said the company had not had contact with Carnegie.
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