Australia First to Receive Electricity Using Zero-emission Wave Energy Generators
By Vic Bishop
Wave energy technology has finally proved its feasibility to provide renewable, clean energy on a mass scale.
The Perth Wave Energy Project has demonstrated that the CETO 5 wave energy generators, developed by Carnegie Wave Energy Limited, are capable of using the movement of the ocean to provide electricity to a naval base near Garden Island in Western Australia. The site is the first commercial ocean wave energy installation. It has channeled zero-emissions energy from three CETO 5 units into a functioning power grid for 14000 cumulative hours.
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Below is a short video that explains the process of how the fully-submerged CETO 5 system, made up of a 240kW buoy tethered to a water pump, converts the movements of the ocean into a stream of high-powered water, which is then is used to create hydroelecticity and power a reverse-osmosis desalination plant.
Carnegie Wave Energy claims the generator system has minimal impact on marine life, does not produce pollution, can be deployed in a variety of depths and sea floor conditions, and is unaffected by storms. With the commercial viability of the CETO system now established, the idea of a technology that produces both clean energy and clean water has many energy experts excited.
Wave-powered generation could hold the key to the viability of renewable energy because it was predictable and could run all da
y, every day. This is one of the great success stories in innovation in renewable energy. ~ Ian Macfarlane, Federal Energy Minister in Australia [1]
The Perth Wave Energy Project is the world’s first grid-connected commercial scale demonstration of Carnegie’s CETO technology. This is an important step towards unlocking the vast potential of wave energy in Australia and internationally. ~ Australian Renewable Energy Agency [2]
Carnegie has secured an additional $20 million in financing to pursue improvements in the next-generation CETO 6. The company and its supporters now face the challenge of increasing the scale of wave energy projects while decreasing the cost of installations.
CETO’s modular design allows for customizable scalability, and its being entirely submerged renders the equipment less susceptible to damage from storms and air erosion.
The great thing about it is we know it works. The challenge from here on is really about scale and cost. ~ Michael Ottaviano, Carnegie Wave Energy CEO [3]
Below is an image that shows the timeline of the CETO technology.
Vic Bishop is a staff writer for Waking Times.
This article (Australia First to Receive Electricity Using Zero-emission Wave Energy Generators) was originally created and published by Waking Times and is published here under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Vic Bishop and WakingTimes.com. It may be re-posted freely with proper attribution, author bio, and this copyright statement. Please contact [email protected] for more info.
Sources:
[1] https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/26336714/switch-flicked-on-for-wave-power-project/
[2] http://arena.gov.au/project/perth-wave-energy-project/
[3]https://magazine.good.is/articles/australia-ceto-water-power-wave-generator
