Jan 18 2011
Carnegie Wave Energy Limited has received a grant from the Irish government’s Sustainable Energy Association to the tune of EU150,000. The funds will be utilized by the company to study possible CETO locations in the country.
The company will now develop designs to suit specific locations. The project, which will have both the Irish government and the company becoming equal partners at the first stage, is l likely to generate 5 MW of energy as a demo operation. CETO Wave Energy, a division of Carnegie, will manage the project in Ireland. The project has been flagged off by the selection of RPS Consulting Engineers located in Ireland.
RPS is a provider of engineering and eco services in marine erections, and has also developed many wave and tidal energy systems across Europe and North America. The funding from the government will go towards research, development and use of wave and tidal energy from the ocean. Towards this, it has set up a feed-in tariff of €220 per watt of each unit of ocean energy. This endeavor reasserts the government’s decision to procure a third of its annual power requirements from renewable sources.
The CETO system comprises under water buoys harnessed to pumps placed on the bed of the ocean. The pumps are driven by the buoys, which gently move according to the movement of the ocean. The pumps then deliver water under pressure through pipes to the shore. This pressurized water is then used to turn hydro electric turbines that generate zero emission, clean energy. The pressurized water is also supplied to a reverse osmosis desalination plant, which hitherto would have been powered by electric pumps that would have emitted poisonous greenhouse gases.