Carnegie granted more time for Albany wave funding plan

The government of Western Australia has granted more time to Carnegie Clean Energy to deliver a revised funding plan for the Albany Wave Energy Project.

CETO 6 wave energy device (Image: Carnegie Clean Energy)

The delivery extension to February 2019 was approved by the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) on Carnegie’s request.

Namely, Carnegie asked the DPIRD to consider extending the funding plan submission deadline to allow time for the proposed changes to the Federal government’s research & development (R&D) tax incentive to be clarified.

“Given the material impact of the proposed changes on the funding plan for the project, and the material uncertainty around whether those proposed changes will be implemented (and in what final form), Carnegie wishes to incorporate any final decisions on the R&D tax incentive into Carnegie’s revised funding plan,” the company said in a statement.

To remind, the government of Western Australia requested early in October 2018 that Carnegie delivers a funding plan for the wave project offshore Albany, after it agreed to pay the negotiated revised first milestone grant for the project of Au$2.6 million to the company.

Upon the plan delivery, the state government will then assess whether the company has the financial capability, in an altered Federal R&D tax incentive environment, to complete the Albany Wave Energy Project, Carnegie said earlier.

The CETO power generating system to be constructed in the project will consist of a single submerged CETO 6 unit with offshore power generation, subsea cable to shore and an onshore substation.

The CETO 6 buoy oscillates with the ocean’s waves and transfers energy to a power conversion unit located inside the buoy, generating power offshore. This power is then transmitted onshore via a subsea cable, according to the project information.

As reported earlier, Jonathan Fievez has recently been appointed as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Carnegie, after Michael Ottaviano resigned from the position of Managing Director and CEO after a decade in the role.