Australian ocean energy company, BioPower Systems has announced that it had secured land access, onshore development rights and project intellectual property for a commercial-scale wave energy site located near the town of Port Fairy, Victoria. The site offers unobstructed exposure to the immense wave power resource produced by the Southern Ocean.

“This stretch of coastline is well known around the world as a premiere location for wave energy development,” the CEO of BioPower Systems, Dr Timothy Finnigan, said. “The strength and consistency of the swell here is phenomenal.”

BioPower Systems expects to commence works at the site by the end of this year and to initially produce energy using a 250kW bioWAVE™ ocean wave energy system. A commercial wave farm using an array of larger 1MW bioWAVE™ units would follow.

Preliminary assessments suggest that the site could accommodate up to 100MW of installed capacity, which would provide renewable energy for up to 55,000 Victorian households. Pre-development work at the site was conducted by Diamond Energy, an Australian private company that develops accredited renewable energy projects and also retails clean electricity. Diamond Energy conducted investigative studies to confirm suitability of the marine site and capacity of the local power distribution grid.

Tony Sennitt, Managing Director of Diamond Energy, said “Port Fairy is an ideal location for establishing a wave energy farm”. “Not only does this region have the highest wave energy levels in the State of Victoria, development of the project supports the local community by creating up to 200 new jobs through the development, commercialisation and production stages”.

BioPower Systems’ proprietary bioWAVE™ technology has minimal environmental impact and is not visible above the sea surface. “The prospect of generating clean power from the ocean, invisibly, is very exciting,” said Mr Sennitt.

BioPower Systems has signed agreements with Diamond Energy, the local landowner, and an onshore facilitator, who will all provide support to the project. Investigations and planning for the first phase of the project have commenced.

“Victoria is a large producer of coal-fired power and it has some significant industrial power consumers. Fortunately, the State Government is also very supportive of renewable energy,” Dr. Finnigan said. “We have been working for some time to secure a world-class project opportunity in Australia, and the site near Port Fairy will now complement our commercial developments in Europe and the USA, giving the company a deep project pipeline for our bioWAVE™ ocean wave energy system,” he added.

About BioPower Systems

Australia’s ocean energy company, BioPower Systems, is commercialising wave and tidal energy systems that incorporate revolutionary designs based on the concept of biomimicry. BioPower is designing its systems to naturally avoid extreme ocean forces, using light-weight construction, resulting in anticipated significant cost savings. The proprietary bioWAVETM and bioSTREAMTM technologies are designed to combine lighter, more resilient structures while delivering lower capital costs and lower energy generation costs.

Source – www.biopowersystems.com

Popularity: 5% [?]