BioPower System's Port Fairy Wave Energy Project Reaches Detailed Design Phase

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources Australia (Perth, Australia)--The Port Fairy Pilot Wave Energy Project, off the coast of Port Fairy, southwest Victoria, is BioPower System's first commercial-scale wave energy project in Australia. A planned 250-kilowatt (kW) demonstration project will provide key data for the design of a larger, 1-megawatt (MW), commercial-scale bioWAVE unit for the next phase of development on the project. The patented bioWAVE unit is being developed by BioPower Systems, and it will undergo testing in the high-wave energy environment of the Southern Ocean.

The Port Fairy demonstration project will use a single unit attached to the sea floor at a depth of 30 metres, about 800 metres from the shore and 4 kilometres west of Port Fairy. It will generate 259 kW of electricity, which will be sufficient to power about 200 households in and around Port Fairy.

Fabrication of the unit was initially planned to begin in 2012, but was delayed due to design-related issues. Foundation and structural components are complete, and fabrication is planned to commence in 2014.

Detailed engineering is under way, and deployment will begin in mid-2014. Following the deployment and monitoring of the site for 18 to 24 months, the plant will be operated from the company's head office in Sydney.

Diamond Energy Pty Limited (Victoria, Australia) assisted BioPower Systems in securing site permission and purchase power agreements for the project. Chinese firm Shanghai Electric Corporation (Shanghai, China) formed a strategic alliance to collaborate with BioPower in constructing the large components of the power units for the next phase, which will be subject to the commercial viability of the project.

The alliance intends to enable development of the firm's bioWAVE technology to a commercial stage "within a reasonable time frame," founder and chief executive Timothy Finnigan said.

Western Australia has 12,900 kilometres of coastline, and its wave energy flux is considered the highest in the world. More than 40% of Australian companies working in wave energy technology development and commercialization projects are based in Western Australia.

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