Australian wave energy developer Carnegie has signed an agreement with the Western Australian state government’s power utility Western Power to deliver a renewable energy island microgrid project.
The Garden Island Microgrid Project will be the first such wave-integrated renewable microgrid project to be connected to an electricity network. It will consist of the CETO 6 Project currently in progress and the existing reverse osmosis desalination plant currently operating on Garden Island but will add an additional 2 megawatts peak, of solar photovoltaic power generation and sufficient energy storage to allow safe, stable and reliable interaction with the electricity grid.
The Garden Island microgrid project will be developed with the support of the Australian Department of Defence and will be funded through a combination of equity, debt and grant funding.
The initial step is a detailed design phase with construction likely to occur in 2016 so that it occurs in advance of CETO 6 construction.