Australia’s Carnegie Wave Energy has moved a step closer to a significant development on the island of Bermuda after completing a year-long study that confirms the viability of the local wave regime for the company’s technology.

Carnegie Wave Energy and a local company Triton Renewable Energy have proposed to build a 2MW pilot plant before moving to a 20MW commercial installation that will provide electricity and desalinated water to the island. However, it is now possible that the company may decide to invest directly into the larger commercial-scale facility.

Bermuda, like most islands, is dependent on expensive imported diesel for electricity. The current retail power tariff on Bermuda is 42 cents/kW, giving Carnegie Wave Energy much more room to deliver their new technology than they would on mainland grids.

“The success of this technology will serve to move Bermuda ever closer to our Energy White Paper targets of reducing our reliance on fossil fuels and increasing our reliance on renewable sources of energy,” Marc Bean, the local minister for environment, planning and infrastructure strategy, said in a statement. “I look forward to the deployment of this promising, clean and efficient energy technology.”

The Carnegie Wave Energy project was selected as one of the Bermuda Electric Light Company preferred renewable energy projects.

The Bermuda project was one of several possibilities for the company’s first commercial project, but that will now be built in Perth after the federal and state governments joined to provide $16 million in funding for the $31 million facility. This means that the initial development in Bermuda may be larger than 2MW, and may aim for 20MW in staged developments.

Carnegie Wave Energie says remote islands such as Bermuda offer a natural market place for Carnegie’s CETO wave power system. A test facility is being installed in the Indian ocean island of Reunion, and other island projects are also being contemplated, along with projects in Ireland and France.