Carnegie Wave Energy, a wave energy developing company based in Perth WA, has declared the successful deployment of its commercial scale CETO unit at an offshore location in the ocean between Five Fathom Bank and Garden Island at 25 meters depth.
The unit is effectively generating power and the power production data is being gathered and sent to its control room at West Perth for examination. To complete the installation process a buoyant actuator (BA) was connected to the CETO system submerged in depth and energized to generate hydraulic power.
The CETO Buoyant Actuator during the installation Process
The CETO system is different from the normally used wave energy equipment and it is anchored to the floor of the ocean and its functions are unseen. A collection of underwater buoys is attached to the seabed pump units of the system. The submerged buoys move with each motion of the wave and drive the seabed pumps to deliver pressurized water with force ashore through a pipe link. The pressurized water delivered at the shore is used to run the hydroelectric turbines to generate clean pollution less power. The pressurized water from the pumps also can be used in RO desalination plants to drive the pumps by replacing the existing electrical pumps that discharge carbon dioxide.
The remote control system incorporated in the CETO unit for data collection is currently performing in accordance with the design requirement and permits compilation and transfer of performance data and total system management in real time to the control center located in West Perth. The engineers placed at the center continuously monitor the data for study and carry out power increasing attempts. Carnegie anticipates completing the data study process in six to eight weeks time and recovering the CETO unit from the seabed for examination.
Similar to the CETO project, Carnegie has been in the process of formulating the design for a lower level of 2 to 5 MW grid-linked demo project. The company has already zeroed on an abstract design and is anticipated to commence the work for a complete design soon.