CSIRO researchers have identified sites along Australia’s southern coastline which make it one of the world’s most promising areas for the generation of wave energy.
The scientists say that just 10 per cent of the energy produced in waves near the shore along the southern coast would be enough to meet half of the country’s present-day electricity needs.
The Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research’s Dr Mark Hemer says that "there were a number of sites I guess that come out as being possible locations, Portland in western Victoria and Port McDonald in south-east South Australia, the west coast of Eyre Peninsula in South Australia, Albany in Western Australia, or Geraldton, they’re all good locations with high energy."
Currently there is only about 4 megawatts of wave energy capacity installed globally, compared with 200,000 megawatts of wind energy capacity but as Dr Hemer says "Australia has a massive resource in wave energy compared to other nations in the world, and we have a really good opportunity to make the most of that."
Australian Cleantech has released a report titled "Prosperous Sustainability" which forecasts the development of energy technologies in Australia up to 2050.
The main findings of the report include:
Current wind technology will maintain a high level of activity through to about 2015, after which it starts to be replaced by second generation wind technologies. There will be no further installation of current technology wind after 2022.
Second generation wind may consist to vertical axis or Darrieus turbines or other improvements on the current large scale horizontal axis turbines. This technology is forecast to take over from the existing wind technology progressively from 2015, increasing in activity through to about 2025 but reducing to low level of ongoing activity by 2035.
Small-scale solar rooftop is forecast to increase in activity through to 2012 driven by feed-in tariffs. It will then reduce, finally becoming obsolete by 2020 as other solar technologies become more economic.
Building integrated solar is forecast to continue to grow through to the end of the forecast period as applications continue to be extended from roofs and windows to a greater variety of surfaces.
Large scale solar concentrating is not predicted roll out until 2018 but it will be to a major component of the industry by 2050, although down from its peak in the late 2020s.
Geothermal is forecast to start to become significant from 2015 with an increase in the roll out in the 2030s as technology improvements increase its efficiency.
Wave and tidal power are expected to grow through to about 2030, after which they start to decline in importance as other technologies, with fewer mechanical parts, emerge as cheaper options. By 2050, they are seen as only having niche application in some specific geographic situations.
First generation biofuels is expected to have steady activity on a global basis through to 2012, after which it will go into decline as it is replaced by gen-2 biofuels using algae and cellulosic technologies. Once these technologies have been proven, they are forecast to experience growth through to 2025 and then to remain steady for 10 years before going into decline with only niche uses of biofuels by 2050.
Energy efficiency and green building are forecast to be a major part of the solution and to continue to grow and innovate throughout the entire period with a continuing focus on reducing energy requirements and using more sustainable materials.
The smart grid is forecast to expand throughout the period with large capital projects as old grids are progressively upgraded. Widespread roll-out will begin 2012 and will significantly expand in the 2020s. There are likely to be many iterations of what is considered ‘smart’ in a grid and it is only towards the end of the forecast period that it might become fully interactive.
The major roll out of battery electric vehicles is expected to commence in 2012 and continue to grow throughout the forecast period.
Carbon equestration is forecast to have only modest activity throughout the period driven by the need for carbon offsetting projects. It is not forecast to grow as many of the other technologies will start to become cost competitive and there will consequently be a decreasing level of carbon to be offset.
Hydrogen, nuclear fusion and other new technologies may become significant parts of the equation after 2030.
Reunion Island, near Madagascar, is to be the site of Carnegie Wave Energy’s first international wave energy project. The facility will be built in three stages with an ultimate capacity of 15 MW.
The project is to be developed with Carnegie’s Northern Hemisphere joint venture partner EDF EN and the French marine defence contractor DCNS. Carnegie will own and finance 49 per cent of the project.
Carnegie has also been granted an investigation licence, and option to lease, three potential wave energy sites off Victoria at Portland, Warrnambool and Phillip Island.
Victoria has an estimated near-shore wave energy resource of 18,000MW – almost double the state’s total installed power generation capacity – and the wave energy resource is close to Victoria’s current power transmission infrastructure.
Carnegie’s Managing Director, Dr Michael Ottaviano, said, “We are pleased to have progressed our consents to licences and now have a clear pathway to lease an area of seabed for a commercial project. These sites add to our Australian commercial site pipeline in WA and SA.”
A massive swell off Port Kembla site has sunk Australia’s first wave power device to feed power to the Australian grid. The $5 million pilot project had just begun supplying power to the shore in February.
The Oceanlinx design was moored to the sea floor like an offshore oil rig . A platform partly above the sea surface acted as a wind tunnel with turbines suspended above the water. These were turned by air pushed up and down by the waves beneath them. The power generated by the spinning turbines was then fed to the coast to supply the grid.
Initially, the powerful waves ripped the device from its moorings. Efforts to capture and tow it back to safety had to be abandoned in high seas and it sank on the next day.
Worldwide, only half a dozen other pilot wave systems are actually delivering power to the grid.
Carnegie Wave Energy has commenced construction of Australia’s first commercial wave energy project.
Stage One of the project involves the deployment of a single stand-alone commercial-scale CETO unit in the Sepia Depression, between Garden Island and Five Fathom Bank off Freemantle, Western Australia. The first facility was initially planned for Albany but Garden Island was chosen instead because the waves in Albany were too small.
Stage One of the project will have a peak capacity of 5 megawatts, generating sufficient power for around 3,500 households. The Project is forecast to create 30 jobs and save over 500,000 tonnes in greenhouse gas emissions. Implementation of Stage One and detailed cost and design activities associated with Stage Two will be undertaken during 2010 with construction and commissioning of Stage Two scheduled for 2011.
The project will utilise Carnegie’s $12.5 million grant from the Western Australian Government announced earlier this year.
The Australian Government has awarded Ocean Power Technology and Leighton Contractors $66.46 million in funding to build the power plant that harnesses ocean waves to generate electricity.
The demonstration wave power station will be built in three stages off Portland, Victoria, with capacity gradually rising to 19 megawatts – enough to supply about 7000 homes with power.
Ocean Power Technology uses buoys that ride waves to convert their energy into electricity.
Ocean Power Technology is listed in the US and UK but not in Australia although it was co-founded by George W. Taylor, a Perth-born inventor who is now chairman of the company.
The New York Times has published a review of the status of wave energy projects around the world and has concluded that the next three years will be critical with around thirty projects expected to start operation.
Among these, the proposed provision of up to $250 million to Australia’s Carnegie Wave Energy for a pilot poject of its Ceto technology will be the second largest ever financial commitment to a wave energy project worldwide. The finance, from Investec Bank is subject to a number of conditions including the securing of a government grant.
The largest financial commitment to a wave energy project was Australia’s Babcock and Brown’s 77 percent share of the Aguçadoura wave park off Portugal. Four months after it began generating power, the project ran into technical difficulties that required its three energy converters to be removed from the sea. The manufacturers, Pelamis, blamed this on “excessive wear on bearings” and have since identified a solution and are manufacturing a new version of the machine in Scotland. Following Babcock and Brown’s collapse, its share in the project was sold to the Portuguese utility Energias de Portugal and the engineering company Efacec.
A Seattle company, Grays Harbor Ocean Energy Company, is seeking permits to harness energy from waves off the coastline of six states – California, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island – each covering about 100 square miles. Taken collectively, Grays Harbor said the $28 billion project would be America’s biggest renewable energy project.
The company has already been granted a preliminary permit for a six-megawatt wave power demonstration project off the Washington coast, near the towns of Westport and Ocean Shores.
Grays Harbor is proposing to use the oscillating water column technology pioneered by Oceanlinx at Port Kembla in Australia.
Although the current applications only relate to wave power, the ultimate plan is for "hybrid" power generation, incorporating wave, wind and gas turbines. Grays Harbor President, Burton Hammer, says that "Because we are using a hybrid of technologies, which now include offshore gas turbines integrated into the wind/wave farms, we can maintain nearly constant rated power output and thus the cash flow is vastly superior to ‘normal’ wind farms.”
The firm expects to pay for the project largely with private investment but is also seeking federal help. “We are raising funds from private investors now. We intend to raise $5.4M in early 2009 for high-level feasibility studies of the proposed sites and for local stakeholder consultations. We expect to raise about $40M in 2010 to fund ocean surveys of the sites using high-resolution sidescan sonar. Full funding of the projects will come from private investors and from 80% debt financing." according to Burton Hammer.
Sydney-based company Oceanlinx (formerly Energetch) is to take part in creating the world’s first large-scale wave energy farm, 16km off the coast of Cornwall.
The $58 million project, to be installed within two years, will grant each of four companies a lease of 2 square kilometres of sea area to test their technology on a large-scale. The four different types of wave energy generators will be connected to hub on the sea floor. Cables running from the hub to land will feed 20 megawatts of electricity (enough to power 7500 homes) into the national power gird
A year ago, Oceanlinx’s wave energy technology was named by the International Academy of Science as one of the ten most outstanding technologies in the world. In Australia, the company has a pilot plant at Port Kembla, a feasibility study for King Island and is negotiating to establish a 27 megawatt wave energy project off the Victorian coast at Portland. In the United states, Rhode Island wants a pilot plant, Hawaii has signed a deal for three of the company’s floating wave energy converters and a power company on the Oregon coast is negotiating with Oceanlinx to build a 15 megawatt wave energy park. Mexico’s Federal Electricity Commission, the world’s biggest electricity provider, is conducting a feasibility study for two new wave plants using the Australian technology.
Oceanlinx’s success is based on the Denniss-Auld turbine invented by the company’s founder, Dr Tom Denniss. ”We have more interest around the world in the technology than we can service at the moment. The market for us is unlimited,” Denniss says.
According to Hans-Josef Fell, Australia has the potential to become the world leader in ocean energy. Mr Fell is one of the politicians responsible for the German renewable energy laws which led to that country becoming a leader in solar and wind energy.
in an address to the West Australian Sustainable Energy Association, he said “I believe Australia could become a market leader in ocean energy production. You have big potential in sea currents, waves and tidal and sea temperature differences, You could become the market leader in five or six years in this area for all the world.”
“In 2000 in Germany, we set a target to double the share of renewable energy by 2010 – from six to 12 per cent. Nearly no one believed that this was achievable. But at the end of 2007, we reached 14 per cent, a much higher figure in a shorter time.” He said the next goal in Germany is for renewables to reach up to 30 per cent of all power use by 2015, and possibly 50 per cent by 2020.
He said that a good political framework is necessary to help reduce the cost of technology and allow it to come into mass production. “The best framework is a feed-in tariff. A feed-in tariff gives the private capital the secure (framework) for profitable investment” he said.
The Australian Government has awarded Ocean Power Technology and Leighton Contractors $66.46 million in funding to build the power plant that harnesses ocean waves to generate electricity.
