|28 September 2016|
Australia
Garden Island off the coast of Perth in Western Australia could become powered entirely by renewables thanks to a pioneering new project being supported by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA).
ARENA will provide $2.5 million of a $7.5 million project, which will see Perth company, Carnegie Wave Energy, design and build the world’s first renewable energy island ‘microgrid’ that includes wave energy generation as part of the mix.
ARENA CEO Ivor Frischknecht said: “It will be the first time wave energy will be integrated into a microgrid, and if successful this diverse technology system could set a great new exportable opportunity for Australia to island nations around the globe.”
Two megawatts (MW) of photovoltaic solar capacity and a 2MW/0.5MWh battery storage system will be constructed and integrated along with Carnegie’s innovative CETO6 off-shore wave energy generation technology.
Ivor continued: “With limited land available, wave energy generation supported by a reliable microgrid of battery storage and solar PV could be a better, cheaper and more sustainable way to power remote coastal or island communities long-term, displacing their reliance on diesel fuel.”
The project will begin construction on Garden Island before the end of this year, and is expected to be up and running by mid-2017.
