Seychelles to sign commercial wave energy development agreement |03 September 2015
Exploring the potential of wave energy
Seychelles will today sign an agreement with an Australian energy company to explore wave energy as a sustainable source of electrical power.
The Minister for Environment, Energy and Climate Change Didier Dogley will sign the memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Carnegie Wave Energy Ltd on the margins of the 1st Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) Ministerial Conference on the Blue Economy taking place in Mauritius.
Carnegie’s chief operating officer Greg Allen will sign on behalf of his company. The signing will take place in the presence of the parliamentary secretary to the Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Minister for Trade and Investment, MP Steven Ciobo who is Australia’s representative at the IORA Blue Economy conference.
A communiqué from the Australian high commission in Mauritius says the agreement will focus on identifying opportunities and developing pathways for commercial wave energy plants, capable of providing a sustainable source of electrical power and/or desalinated water, and micro-grid solutions to enable higher penetration of renewable energy at the periphery of the grid and in off-grid locations.
Both offer higher uptake of renewable energy in the Seychelles, capable of providing reliable and sustainable power and water.
The technologies being applied and collaborative approach have broader application to other small island developing states.
Carnegie Wave Energy is an innovative Australian wave energy technology developer, which currently has the world’s only operational wave energy array, known as the Perth Wave Energy Project, delivering power and desalinated water into the local grid on Garden Island in the Indian Ocean, some 30 km south of Perth, Western Australia.
As part of the Perth Wave Energy Project, Carnegie is also developing micro-grid solutions to enable higher penetration of renewable energy at the periphery of the grid and in off-grid locations, which lends itself directly to Indian Ocean communities.
Carnegie Wave Energy Ltd signed an MoU earlier this year with the Mauritius Research Council to explore collaboration between Mauritius and Carnegie Wave, including assessment of the potential for wave energy in Mauritius and Rodrigues, as well as exploring the opportunities for water supply from desalination using power generated from the sea.
An announcement will also be made during the signing ceremony on new collaborations between Carnegie Wave Energy and Mauritius and Rodrigues.