Carnegie Clean Energy’s administrators are talking to potential white knights, including non-executive director and former AFL chairman Mike Fitzpatrick, about a possible rescue.

The company, which had been working to commercialise its wave technology for 10 years, was put into the hands of administrators from insolvency firm KordaMentha late on Thursday, just days after the State Government pulled funding from its flagship Albany project.

The collapse strands 11,000 shareholders and will likely increase scrutiny of the considerable government support extended to the group, which has spent tens of millions of dollars in pursuing its energy ambitions.

KordaMentha said administrators Richard Tucker and John Bumbak were “in discussions with key stakeholders to secure funding to allow the company to continue to trade while the administrators pursue a recapitalisation via a deed of company arrangement”.

It is understood a proposal for a recapitalisation has been floated by potential backers said to include Mr Fitzpatrick.

The former Subiaco and VFL footballer has been a major supporter of Carnegie, providing a $2 million unsecured loan to the company in November.

Carnegie’s CETO technology, which aims to generate emission-free electricity from wave power, was bought for about $56 million in shares in 2009.

CETO, which is named after the mythological Greek sea goddess, uses large fully submerged buoys anchored to the ocean floor to harness wave energy, delivering the power back to shore via subsea cables.

Since its purchase, Carnegie has received $56.5 million in government grants and Australian research and development tax benefits, while spending $83 million on development.

The government support includes $40 million in grants from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency.

The Barnett government gave Carnegie $12.5 million for a pilot project off Garden Island and the British Government handed out $17.7 million in 2016. There was also a $15.75 million grant from the State Government in 2017 for the right to develop a trial 1MW wave power project off Albany.

Under the now-terminated agreement, Carnegie received a final payment of $2.65 million six months ago.

The Government pulled its support this week amid concerns about Carnegie’s parlous finances and its ability to deliver the Albany project.

The book value of CETO was written down in the December half-year accounts by $32 million to $15 million. But its realisable value in administration could be considerably less.

The technology remains Carnegie’s biggest asset, accounting for the lion’s share of its listed net assets of $16.2 million as at December 31.

The company’s liabilities were put at $12.7 million, including $5.8 million in trade creditors and $4 million owed to Commonwealth Bank.

Shares in Carnegie, which is believed to have about 40 staff, were suspended from trading two weeks ago after the company missed a deadline to file its accounts. At its last sale price of 0.4¢, the company was capitalised at about $11 million.