A locally-manufactured prototype wave energy converter will be deployed off the coast of Western Australia later this month in a bid to demonstrate the ocean’s potential as a source of renewable energy.
More than three years in the making, the project led by the University of Western Australia’s Marine Energy Research Centre with funding support from the state government and the Blue Economy Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) is designed to boost clean energy supply chain options.
The device will be deployed in the southern WA port city of Albany, where it was built by local companies and materials. The six-month deployment period will test its efficiency and power generation capabilities with to inform production of a larger-scale device.
The $4 million project, which includes $1.55 million from the state government and $1.6 million from the Blue Economy CRC, was first announced in August 2021.
The device is made of a hinged steel frame kept afloat by four large buoys and will generate energy using the motion of the waves. The steel frame is 9.5 metres wide and 24 metres long, roughly the same length as an average wave where it will be deployed.
It is based on a design developed at the University of Manchester through project partner M4 Wave Power. The project also includes six other partners, including the University of Tasmania, the University of Queensland, and the local aquaculture companies.
A project overview document says it will “demonstrate wave energy’s potential to power the aquaculture industry”.
Data will be made publicly available, potentially helping to turn the region into a “nursery test site for wave energy developers”, according to the state’s Innovation and Science minister Stephen Dawson.
Marine Energy Research Australia and UWA Oceans Institute director Christophe Gaudin said “the idea is to take advantage of the unique ocean engineering research capabilities in WA to a global scale”.
The project will also included a feasibility study for the creation of an Ocean Wave Energy Market Demonstration Site to help customers find future renewable energy microgrids.
This will be undertaken with the industry-led Australian Ocean Energy Group, a part of climate innovation initiative Climate-KIC Australia.
Western Australia’s regional development minister Don Punch said the project is “supporting research excellence, regional employment and renewable energy supply chain development in the Great Southern by leveraging the competitive advantage of our State’s natural assets”.
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