Ocean Power wins grant for wave project
LONDON, ENGLAND - Renewable energy firm Ocean Power Technologies has won a $66.5 million (US$61 million) grant from the Australian government for a project set to be one of the first to generate power from waves on a utility scale.
Ocean Power said work on the 19 megawatt project, enough to power 10,000 homes, was expected to begin by the second quarter of 2010.
The company uses buoys floating up and down to drive an electrical generator, with the power generated being transmitted onshore via an underwater cable.
The project off the coast of Victoria is being carried out in conjunction with Leighton Contractors, a unit of Australian mining contractor Leighton Holdings.
The Australian government is aiming to generate 20 percent of the country's electricity from renewable sources by 2020 and the grant awarded to Ocean Power forms part of funding totaling $235 million for four renewable energy projects.
Ocean Power said, however, further funding would be needed to complete the wave power station.
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The decline came despite a hot summer that had people rushing to crank up the air conditioning at home, the province’s power management agency said.
“We do have this very interesting shift in who’s using the energy,” said Chuck Farmer, senior director of power system planning with the Independent Electricity System Operator.
“Residential users are using more electricity than we thought they would and the commercial consumers are using less.”
The onset of the pandemic last…
