Carnegie Wave Energy has deployed and commissioned a wave monitoring buoy off the south coast of Mauritius.

The buoy was installed in conjunction with Carnegie’s project partners the Mauritian Research Council, Australia’s High Commissioner to Mauritius and the University of Western Australia.

The move follows Carnegie’s signing of a collaboration agreement with MRC to find opportunities and develop pathways for commercial wave energy plants.

The project, which is being funded by Government of Mauritius and the Government of Australia, is being overlooked by the Mauritian Research Council.

Carnegie Wave Energy will receive payments in exchange for delivering and setting up series of work packages for the wave energy project.

Other contributors to the project include the Mauritian Coast Guard, Energy Made Clean, Mauritian Meteorlogical services, Mauritian Ministry of Housing and the University of Western Australia.

The project will be broken down into three main stages. The first stage will include the creation of a high penetration renewable energy roadmap for Mauritius with technical, commercial and financial feasibility.

It will also evaluate wave energy resources, site conditions and priority sites for commercial CETO wave energy devices.

A decentralised micro-grid for the island of Rodrigues will be designed to offer battery storage and control systems that can enable higher renewable energy penetration.

The present deployment of wave monitoring Buoy falls under the second category of assessment of wave energy resources and site conditions.

By deploying this buoy, data can be gathered to quantify wave energy resource in support of the potential CETO wave energy devices to be deployed. The wave buoy will be deployed for a minimum period of six months.

Carnegie project manager Neil de Tisi said, "Deployment of Carnegie’s Wave Monitoring Buoy off Mauritius, through the partnership of Carnegie, The Mauritian Research Council, Australia’s High Commissioner to Mauritius and the Mauritian Coast Guard, is critical to determining the local wave resource and is a key step in assessing the feasibility and design of a commercial scale CETO wave energy plant off Mauritius."