Reforms mean wave power is closer to paying its way

Sydney Morning Herald
11 July 2011, Page: 10

IN AN unremarkable warehouse in Mascot, a machine for making electricity from the tidal force of the ocean is being built. When complete, the underwater power generator will be the height of a seven storey building, and use the swaying motion of the sea to generate pressure in hydraulic fluid and spin turbines.

The project is being developed by BioPower Systems, one of hundreds of renewable energy companies that watched the federal government unveil its carbon price package yesterday. "The two things are the price on carbon itself, which brings more closely together the cost of our technology and more traditional energy sources, and direct funding for renewable energy", the company's chief executive, Tim Finnigan, said.

While solar power is expected to reach "grid parity" equal to the cost of coal fired power within five years, wave energy is a little further off. "It will be five to eight years before our systems are on grid and producing significant amounts of power at a commercial scale", Dr Finnigan said. "From our perspective, we would have liked a higher carbon price to close that gap faster $23 is a fairly gradual entry point, but we'll take it".

A new statutory body, the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, will dispense about $10 billion in funding for non fossil fuel energy from 2013-14, in the form of loans and equity. The Clean Energy Council, representing many wave, wind and solar suppliers, said the biggest benefits would be certainty for potential investors in the sector. "When they are talking to financiers, they will be able to point to a long term carbon price,.. and say 'you will be able to see a return on your investment'".