Waves Breaking for New Clean Energy

Michael Ottaviano, CEO of Carnegie Wave energy company, has been in the news this week with licensing go ahead for a 5MW commercial demonstration project off Garden Point, Western Australia, while low emissions generation moved closer with Queensland’s ZeroGen project being short-listed under the Federal Government  Clean Energy Initiative CCS Flagships Program.

Report from Carnegie:

Licence for Perth wave energy site signed

• Carnegie & WA Government sign wave energy license

• Allows the installation of commercial scale CETO unit off Garden Island

• This will be the first commercial scale wave power unit deployed in Australia

Wave energy developer Carnegie Wave Energy Limited (ASX: CWE) is pleased to advise that it has executed a deed of licence with the State of Western Australian Government for access to a designated area of seabed in waters to the west of Garden Island off Perth, Western Australia.

Carnegie has been working with the Department of Regional Development and Lands (DRDL) who manage Crown Land in Western Australia, along with other State Government Departments, to process Carnegie’s license application over recent months. Execution of the licence provides Carnegie with permission, subject to specific covenants, to install and operate a commercial scale, autonomous CETO wave energy device to verify its energy delivery performance for a period of up to 3 years.

The activities to be undertaken under the licence form part of Carnegie’s 5MW commercial demonstration project supported by $12.5m of State Government Low Emissions Energy Development (LEED) funding.

Activities in the licence area are well progressed. Deployment of the first commercial scale, autonomous CETO wave energy unit will begin shortly with the installation of the unit’s mooring system. This will be the first commercial scale wave energy unit to be deployed in Australia.

About CETO

The CETO system distinguishes itself from other wave energy devices by operating out of sight and being anchored to the ocean floor. An array of submerged buoys is tethered to seabed pump units. The buoys move in harmony with the motion of the passing waves, driving the pumps which in turn pressurise water that is delivered ashore via a pipeline. High-pressure water is used to drive hydroelectric turbines, generating zero-emission electricity. The high-pressure water can also be used to supply a reverse osmosis desalination plant, replacing greenhouse gas emitting electrically driven pumps usually required for such plants.

CETO Technology characteristics include:

• CETO converts wave energy into zero-emission electricity

• CETO is environmentally friendly, has no visual impact and attracts marine life

• CETO is fully submerged in deep water away from popular surf breaks

About Carnegie

Carnegie Wave Energy Limited is an Australian, ASX-listed (CWE) wave energy and clean technology developer. Carnegie is the owner and developer of the CETO Wave Energy Technology intellectual property.

Source: www.carnegiewave.com

Tim Boreham, Criterion in The Australian (9 December 2009):

Investors are already spoiled for choice on carbon-friendly plays. Despite that, says Carnegie Wave’s Michael Ottaviano, the true clean-energy sector accounts for only about 0.5 per cent of the local market’s capitalisation.

Carnegie (CWE, 12.5c) is a pertinent example of the disconnect between the local market’s caution (and, perhaps ignorance) of the sector and the more gung-ho valuations ascribed in Europe.

“The market here is still grappling with what all of this means,” Ottaviano says. One misconception is that the failure (to date) of the emissions trading legislation spells the end of renewable-energy incentives, but a 20 per cent renewables target is already l-a-w law.

Having secured a crucial government lease permit this week (and a jack-up rig from the NorthWest Shelf), Carnegie is about to build a 5 megawatt demonstration plant off Garden Island, aimed at proving the viability of its patented CETO wave technology.

CETO deploys sub-surface buoys to harness the waves, with the pressurised water used either for onshore generation or desalination.

Existing facilities, popular in Scotland for example, directly generate from offshore plants.

Despite expectations, Carnegie’s virtues didn’t convince the feds to assign the company a grant from the big-ticket Renewable Energy Development Program. Carnegie shares were poleaxed as a result.

Chief executive Ottaviano says the sell-off was unjustified: such grants might have an impressive headline value but the cash comes in dribs and drabs and depends on the company putting up two or three times more dough.

In any event, Carnegie has procured a $12.5 million West Australian government grant to co-fund the $50m project.

Source: www.theaustralian.com.au

ZeroGen short-listed for CCS Flagships funding (8 December 2009):

Low emissions power generation with carbon capture and storage moved closer this week with Queensland’s ZeroGen project being short-listed by the Federal Government for funding under its Clean Energy Initiative CCS Flagships Program.

The company is proposing to build a commercial scale baseload Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) with Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) low emission coal power plant in Central Queensland by late 2015.

ZeroGen Chief Executive Officer, Dr Tony Tarr said ZeroGen was clearly now well placed to become one of the first commercial-scale IGCC with CCS projects in the world following the announcement by the Minister for Resources and Energy, Martin Ferguson.

ZeroGen is a project of world significance as part of the national and international collaborative effort to accelerate the deployment of low emission technologies.

The project is currently funded by its partners the State Government, Australian Coal Association Low Emissions Technologies Ltd (ACALET), and Japan’s Mitsubishi Corporation and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

“The ZeroGen project ensures Queensland is a world leader in the development and deployment of this crucial technology. Our IGCC with CCS project will capture and safely store up to 90% of CO2 emissions, while at the same time support a sustainable future for Australia’s $24 billion coal export industry and the 130,000 jobs it supports,” Dr Tarr said.

“CCS has been identified by leading organisations such as the International Energy Agency, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, WWF-Australia and the Global CCS Institute as being essential in lowering greenhouse gas emissions globally,” Dr Tarr said.

“It is widely understood that if several large scale integrated CCS demonstration projects are not developed within the next decade, there is a real possibility we won’t be able to deploy the technology in time to prevent greenhouse gas emissions from exceeding reasonable limits.

The Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum, of which Australia and Japan are members, recently recognised the project as one of the most important Carbon Capture and Storage projects in the world and it is one of 10 new projects now added to the existing CSLF portfolio of Research and Developments projects.

The International Energy Agency’s 2009 World Energy Outlook predicts fossil fuels will account for 77% of the increased global demand for power between 2007 and 2030. Demand for coal will grow by 53% in that time.

Dr Tarr said projects like ZeroGen are essential in enabling the rapid and widespread commercial deployment of low-emission technology around the world, including emerging countries such as China and India.

ZeroGen supports a portfolio approach to achieving Australia’s energy targets and meeting global demand for energy, a portfolio that includes a combination of low-emissions coal, renewables and energy efficiency.

“Importantly, projects like ZeroGen will play a critical role in such a portfolio, significantly reducing technology risks and costs to pave the way for rapid commercialisation of low-emission coal fired power plants in Australia and around the world.”

ZeroGen’s CO2 drilling exploration program is continuing in Central Queensland and is the most advanced of its kind in the world.

“Our team in the Northern Denison Trough has drilled more than 50% of all the wells in the world for the specific purpose of geological storage of CO2,” Dr Tarr said.

“Test injections of CO2 are now underway and results to date have been encouraging and have confirmed the geology’s ability to safely and securely store large volumes of CO2. Investigations are ongoing to determine the amount that can be stored cost-effectively.”

An extensive prefeasibility study, to be completed mid 2010, is examining the potential for the power plant to be built in the Central Highlands region, close to coal supply, existing infrastructure and a secure storage site for its CO2 emissions .

An Environmental Impact Study will also be completed as part of the feasibility process and on current timelines all studies are expected to be completed by September 2011. An extensive community consultation program will be carried out throughout these studies.

Source: www.zerogen.com.au