Friday 15 February 2008

Tidal power the new renewable

South Gippsland Sentinel Times
Tuesday 12/2/2008 Page: 8

LOCAL opponents of wind farms who believe they are not efficient power generators will be interested in the development of wave and tidal power generation. Australia's ocean power company, BioPower Systems, has commenced work on a renewable energy project to test its two unique ocean power technologies in Tasmania. BioPower's proprietary ocean power conversion technologies are based on the concept of biomimicry, which refers to the use of biological species as inspiration In engineering design.

The bioWAVE wave power system and bioSTREAM tidal power system are designed to move and respond in a similar manner to ocean plants and fish, while efficiently extracting power from the waves and tidal streams. BioPower's CEO Dr Tim Finnigan said the company was "gearing up for fullscale system deployment and operation." "This project will allow us to develop the technologies to be ready for commercial production within a couple of years," he said. BioPower was recently awarded a $5 million grant under the Australian Government's Auslndustry Renewable Energy Development Initiative (REDI). The grant funds will be matched by BioPower to fund the $10.3 million project.

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