Carnegie Wave Energy Receives Australian Grant to Develop Seawater Project

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources Australia (Perth, Australia)--Carnegie Wave Energy Limited (ASX:CWE) (Perth, Australia), a technology developer specializing in wave energy, recently received a $1.33 million grant from the government to build a seawater desalination project powered by wave energy.

The funds will be distributed from Australia's Clean Technology Innovation Program and will represent half of the total investment required for the $2.56 million pilot plant in Western Australia. The project will desalinate seawater to produce freshwater. Carnegie says that wave energy-driven seawater desalination will significantly reduce the amount of electricity consumed and the greenhouse gas emissions associated with electric-driven seawater desalination.

The plant will be directly powered by Carnegie's own CETO hydraulic technology from an offshore CETO system. What makes CETO technology unique is its ability to produce both clean power and clean water. The CETO system is anchored onto the sea floor and an array of CETO buoys move with the motion of passing waves, driving pumps that deliver water onshore via a three-kilometre pipeline. Once onshore, the high-pressure water is used to drive hydroelectric turbines. The high pressure water also can be used to supply desalination plants, replacing the electrically driven pumps usually utilized in such plants.

Carnegie is finalizing details of the funding and is looking to integrate the project into the existing wave energy project. The CETO desalination pilot will be located with Carnegie's Perth Wave Energy Project on Garden Island. Carnegie Wave Energy plans to complete detailed engineering for the grassroot, 2-megawatt (MW) wave energy project with the option to expand to 5 MW. The project will utilise up to 10 fully submerged CETO wave energy converters of 0.2 MW each, connected to three onshore hydroelectric turbines to produce renewable energy for the grid.

Carnegie plans to begin the tender process in April 2013 and construction is expected to kick-off in later this year with the first power expected to be delivered into the grid in February 2014. Once completed, the Perth Wave Energy Project will be the country's first commercial-scale CETO grid connection wave energy project.

Industrial Info is also tracking a second Carnegie Wave Energy project currently under development offshore from Albany, Western Australia. Carnegie currently conduct economic evaluation and design for the $255.84 million project which proposes to develop a 20-MW wave energy plant with the potential to expand to 50-MW. Carnegie expects to complete the design phase by the end of 2013. If approved, construction is scheduled for June 2015 with expected completion and operation in June 2017.

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