MoU Signed for Western Australian Wave Project

By The Maritime Executive 06-22-2015 03:03:21

Stonehenge Metals Limited and Yanchep Beach Joint Venture (YBJV) have signed an MoU regarding collaboration on the development of a Protean Wave Energy Converter (WEC) wave farm off the coast of Western Australia.

The project is designed to supply power to the community at Two Rocks.

YBJV is part of one of the largest metropolitan urban development projects in Australia, SunCity, at Yanchep in Perth’s northern coastal transport corridor. YBJV believe that SunCity will emerge as possibly the only sustainable Clean Green Community in a strategic regional city center within a metropolitan area in Australia.

The project has been given acknowledgement at national level through the Federal Government’s Major Project Facilitation status.

The MoU creates a collaborative relationship to support Stonehenge as it strives to commercialize the Protean WEC technology in Australia. The Wave Farm project is expected to progress in phases involving an initial single 1.5kW demonstration buoy followed by a demonstration Wave Farm array of 30 x 1.5kW buoys (45kW).

It is expected that any subsequent larger capacity deployment would be based on a feasibility study conducted as part of the initial phases. The ultimate vision for the project involves working with the community to develop an appropriate model to create a Wave Farm to supply energy and/or water to the community.

The available wave energy resource in the vicinity of the Two Rocks Marina Breakwater, based on previous work conducted, is estimated to be in the order of 20kW per meter. Using this estimate of 20kW per meter and an approximate Breakwater length of 1km, the inferred mean potential wave power resource within the vicinity of the Breakwater could be in the order of 20MW, amounting to 87GWh2 per annum of clean, renewable energy.

Stonehenge MD, Bruce Lane said “We are very pleased to have the opportunity to work with the team at YBJV. We identified early on that Two Rocks would be an ideal location to demonstrate the Protean WEC technology. To be able to demonstrate the technology at Two Rocks, in the context of a potentially significant commercial project, with the support of an influential partner of YBJV’s caliber is a significant bonus for the Company”.

YBJV CEO, Gin Wah Ang said, “We are happy to be able to support Stonehenge in their efforts to move towards proving and commercializing this exciting renewable energy technology. I believe wave energy technology has the potential to deliver real benefits for the community at Yanchep and Two Rocks. We have always viewed wave energy as a potential solution for the sustainable provision of energy and fresh water to the community.”

The Protean system is based upon a point-absorber wave energy converter buoy device which floats at the water surface and extracts energy from the waves by the extension and retraction of a tether to its anchoring weight on the seabed. The device is unique in that it optimizes the conversion of energy from waves at the surface through all six degrees of wave movement.

The Protean system has been developed to use compact architecture to produce power from a small, low cost, scalable design targeted at keeping the projected levelized cost of energy down.