Antinuclear

Western Australia wave energy project on the brink of commercialisation  Oliver Milman  theguardian.com, Wednesday 9 April 2014 A major sustainable energy plan has come closer to fruition with the launch of three giant buoys in Perth Australia could be set for a breakthrough in energy derived from waves, following the launch a major new project in Western Australia.

Carnegie Wave Energy unveiled three large buoys in Perth on Wednesday as part of a new $70 million technology which will feed energy into the Australian grid later this year.

The enormous buoys, called buoyant actuators, will be towed out into the ocean near Garden Island, off the coast of Perth.
The buoys will then be submerged and attached to underwater pumps. The movement of the ocean’s waves will cause the buoys to shoot high-pressure water through pipes which, in turn, will drive turbines and generators onshore, creating electricity.

The high-pressure water will also be fed into an onshore desalination plant, creating fresh water without the need for pumps.

Electricity and water provided by the project will be used by the department of defence for HMAS Stirling, Australia’s largest naval base, which is on Garden Island. The government, which has provided $13.1 million in funding through the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), said the project will be the first operating wave energy array scheme in the world……

Ivor Frischknecht, chief executive of ARENA, said Carnegie should be congratulated for helping push forward the viability of wave energy in Australia.“Australia’s wave energy resources along our south and south-west coasts are among the best in the world and, importantly, can be reliably predicted days ahead,” he said.