Riding the wave

Australian
Monday 18/5/2009 Page: 25

Carnegie Corporation concluded a major transaction last week, buying back the global intellectual property (IP) and development rights of its CETO wave energy technology, allowing it to be a full participant in projects planned for the key European markets. The sate and buyback of the CETO IP in many ways acts as a proxy for the development of renewable energy policy in this country.

CETO was conceived by oil and gas man Alan Burns in the 1970s after a wave washed him under a ledge while he was diving off Rottnest Island near Perth. But a lack of government support, and therefore investor interest, forced Burns in 2006 to list a new entity called Renewable Energy Holdings on the London-based AIM market, which held the IP rights. AIM's lack of liquidity makes it a difficult platform on which to raise funds, so Carnegie Corporation has seized this opportunity to buy back the rights in exchange for a 35% stake.

Carnegie Corporation hopes it will get government funding support to build a 50MW demonstration plant in Australia in the next few years, but the main game will be the European market. Scotland, which is fast running out of available windfarm locations, has no access to geothermal and little opportunity for solar, is offering huge subsidies for ocean power, which can gain feed-in tariffs worth five times that of wind, or around $650 per MW hour.

Ireland, England, Spain and Portugal also offer solid subsidies. "It's an incredibly attractive market, and where the action is," says Carnegie Corporation CEO Michael Ottaviano. Carnegie Corporation's joint venture partner in developing European projects is energy giant Electricite de France.