Novel Australian plant ready for siting
A revolutionary wave energy power plant designed by Australia’s Energetech is expected to be towed into its final position off the coast of Port Kembla, Australia within the next few weeks.
The Energetech system is a shoreline device suitable for deep water coastal sites such as those found on harbour breakwaters and rocky headland and cliffs. The device is about 40 m long and is based on an oscillating water column (OWC) that uses a parabolic-shaped reflector to concentrate the wave resource on the OWC.
At the focus of the parabola, the water will rise and fall periodically with amplitude of approximately three times that of the incoming waves. The device is expected to generate of the order of 1 – 2 MW.
The Denniss-Auld turbine was built by Vale Statutory Mining at Moss Vale while the main structure of the plant was shipped in from Indonesia late last year. When the turbine and bell chamber are fitted together there will be a month-long commissioning period before the plant is officially opened in May.
The first plant using Energetech technology commenced in early 2004 and is expected to be commissioned in early 2005.