WA energy policy 'bad for wave power'

West Australian
Monday 1/11/2010 Page: 10

The head of a leading local renewable energy company says WA could lose one of the world's foremost wave energy initiatives because Australia is behind Europe in financial returns on green energy. Carnegie Corporation Wave Energy chief executive Michael Ottaviano unveiled the latest development of his company's proposed Garden Island wave farm last week a 20 tonne buoyant actuator, or buoy.

But he said WA could lose the potential wealth of energy from wave energy to Ireland, Portugal and other European nations because of its uncompetitive policy "That shouldn't surprise anyone, that commercially driven companies will go where they are going to get the best return on their capital", he said. Carnegie Corporation is about to attach its first CETO unit to the seabed near Garden Island and its wave farm will eventually have up to 20 units and produce 5MW.

A CETO unit has a 20 tonne buoy connected to a pump on the sea floor. As the buoy moves in the swells, it drives a piston and pumps water into a turbine. Dr Ottaviano said Australia was not doing enough to entice renewable energy players. "It would cost us the same to build a power station (in Europe) but we'd get three to four times more revenue in Ireland, the UK, Portugal and Spain. If you go to Scotland it's even higher", he said. Dr Ottaviano said WA's renewable energy target should be broken down into specific types because it was aimed towards wind power.