Wave energy developer Carnegie Wave Energy Limited announced the signing of the formal funding agreement, for the award of a $1.27m AusIndustry grant from the Clean Technology Innovation Program to support a CETO Seawater Desalination Demonstration Pilot Plant.
The signed funding agreement supports the design and construction of a CETO Desalination Plant which will desalinate seawater to produce freshwater. The plant will be directly powered by hydraulic energy from an offshore CETO wave energy system. The aim is to demonstrate that CETO desalination technology has the potential to significantly and sustainably reduce the amount of electricity consumed, and hence the associated greenhouse gas emissions produced, by desalination plants.
Carnegie’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Michael Ottaviano said,
“We are grateful to AusIndustry for its support of the CETO desalination technology and this world first project. Work has already begun on advancing the design and securing approvals for the desalination project, as well as planning for its integration into delivery of the Perth Wave Energy Project.”
The CETO desalination pilot will be co-located with Carnegie’s Perth Wave Energy Project (PWEP) on Garden Island, integrating off-the-shelf reverse osmosis desalination technology with the PWEP infrastructure. Key initial tasks ahead of construction include completing detailed design, securing environmental approvals, negotiation of a water sales agreement and, if possible, the integration of the construction and commissioning of the desalination pilot with the delivery of PWEP.
The agreement for the $1.27m grant was signed following the completion of a project budget review by AusIndustry and the successful negotiation of a funding agreement between Carnegie and AusIndustry. This follows from the previous announcement of the $1.27m funding on the 28th February 2013 by the Honourable Greg Combet, MP, Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, Industry and Innovation and by the Honourable Gary Gray MP, Minister for Resources and Energy and Federal Member for Brand.
[mappress]
Press release, April 22, 2013; Image: carnegie