CETO wave energy generator sinks in readiness for test phase
Posted: 4 May 2005
The CETO wave energy generator launched at WA's Henderson marine base six weeks ago was today positioned on the sea floor off Fremantle to start the testing phase of this ground-breaking renewable energy technology.
This Australian designed and built and now British backed wave energy generator went down end first about 250 metres from the shore in Fremantle. Over the next six weeks it is to be commissioned and start trial production of alternatively electricity and fresh water from wave power, with no fossil fuel input.
CETO was designed by prominent inventor Alan Burns and developed over a three-year period by West Australian company Seapower Pacific Pty Ltd to meet the world-wide demand to produce energy from clean, alternative, available sources. The best demonstration of what it is all about is that in February Seapower Pacific was taken over by Renewable Energy Holdings Plc, a company listed on the London Stock Exchange specifically to invest in cutting edge renewable energy technology.
Dennis Kelly, managing director of Seapower Pacific, said CETO is regarded as a breakthrough in renewable energy technology at the right time, given the pressing world-wide demand to produce power and water from clean, alternative, available sources.
"Unlike other wave energy technologies that require undersea grids and costly marine qualified plant, CETO requires only a small diameter pipe to carry high pressure seawater ashore at 7000kpa (1000psi) to either a turbine to produce electricity, or to a reverse osmosis filter to produce fresh water," he said.
"The prototype is expected to generate up to 100 kilowatts of electricity, enough for 100 homes. In desalination mode the prototype is expected to produce about 300,000 litres of fresh water per day."
CETO inventor Alan Burns said wind generated waves off the West Australian coast have the highest concentration of energy. "CETO brings together technology developed over 25 years to convert this reliable source of energy into electricity and fresh water and we hope it proves to be the interim step to commercial production," he said.
In London , the chief executive of REH, Mike Proffitt, said CETO was an attractive option at a time when fossil fuel costs are rising and supply diminishing, while renewable energy costs are falling and supply dramatically increasing.
"REH will maintain close scientific, operational and corporate relationships with all parties involved in the CETO project," he said. This includes Australian listed companies Pacific Hydro, a leader in its own right in renewable energy, and technology developer Carnegie Corporation, both founding shareholders of Seapower Pacific and now major shareholders in REH."
Posted by Richard Price, Editor, EnergyME.com
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