A pioneering wave power company says it is building its first commercial wave plant in Cornwall, England because the policy support for renewable energy there is more enticing than the climate policy chaos in Australia.

Mike Ottaviano, chief executive of ASX-listed Carnegie Wave Energy, said the company was divorcing itself from political uncertainty over renewable energy in Australia by diversifying geographically and technologically.

Carnegie Wave had received "phenomenal" development aid from ARENA, the federal government clean energy funder, Dr Ottaviano said. But that one-off backing contrasted with broader support in Britain from start-up to commercialisation.

Wave, solar and energy storage combine to power Garden Island off the Western Australian coast south of Perth in a trial project by Carnegie Wave Energy. Supplied

This included state aid of about 60p for every pound spent by the company, twice the rate in Australia, a fat feed-in tariff of £310 ($515) per megawatt hour, a "Wave hub" 20 kilometres offshore from St Ives, Cornwall connected to the national grid, manufacturers skilled in making new kit for wind farms, and support from the world's savviest renewable energy capital market in London.

"There's a really poor understanding in Australia of what it takes to commercialise power technology. The view in government would be that we support research and development [but] we are just doing one part of the chain, and it's all overlaid by this policy uncertainty in the climate space which affects everything," Dr Ottaviano said.