WAVE Swell Energy has celebrated the first anniversary of the UniWave200 wave energy converter with an event at the King Island Boat Club at Grassy Harbor.
In June last year Wave Swell Energy (WSE) worked with Hydro Tasmania, the island’s energy and network provider, and incorporated their technology into the local grid. It has delivered energy since July 2021 from the project into the existing network. WSE became the first power station in the world that operates with three different types of renewables and proved the prototype’s functionality, reliability, stability and demonstrated that their technology can withstand extreme wave surge conditions.
WSE chief executive officer Paul Geason, and chief development officer Tom Wilson with Mayor Julie Arnold and Deputy Mayor Vernon Philbey joined WSE staff, local Hydro Tasmania, TasPorts, Group 6 Metals representatives and Grassy residents to celebrate the one-year milestone at the boat club to thank all involved and talk of the future. CEO Paul Geason said it was a very important moment for WSE. Both he and Mr Wilson acknowledged the community.
“Operating a power station in the ocean is not for the faint hearted,” Mr Geason said. “To take cement and steel and build a unit that can withstand and survive the seas, harness the energy at a cost that is fair and become operational and prove that it can be done is something to celebrate.”
They acknowledged the professionalism, skills, and relationships formed in Launceston where the unit was built during the Covid pandemic and the Australian Maritime College for their testing and ingenuity in bringing the unit to King Island and to those King Islanders who made it happen. Mr Wilson said the project needed the support of the community. He and Mr Geason praised and were grateful for the resourcefulness, competence and ‘can do’ attitude of the island’s people and the council’s cooperation and ease in dealings.
“WSE has relied on their King Island people from when the unit was first put in place to ongoing on call support to ensure the unit was functioning, had maintenance, and do the monitoring, and measuring,” Mr Wilson said.
Mr Geason emphasised that it could not have been done without them. Mr Geason also spoke of the changed renewable energy sector. “There is a rapid acceleration in renewable energy and the complex integration of solar and wind and now the combination with wave energy. It is exciting. We have now proven on King Island how it can be incorporated,” he said. “By incorporating our technology into the King Island micro-grid, the island has the first power plant, or power station, in the world that operates on three different types of renewables.”
Mrs Arnold expressed pride in the work of WSE. “We are so proud to have been part of showing the world working renewable technologies. The island has three lots of renewables, that work, that’s great for elsewhere, as well as working well for King Island.”
Looking to the future, Mr Geason said that WSE had expressions of interest from Europe and the US and places where there was a dependency on diesel. “No other technology can be incorporated into breakwaters and seawalls or units placed close together to become breakwaters and protection, reducing coastal erosion. “It will be invaluable and suited to islands and communities under the threat of rising sea levels and compatible with hydro. It can also replace diesel and gas, is cheaper and an unlimited and reliable source of energy.
Future projects include utilising the technology for desalination – the production of potable drinking water and Hydrogen production. “We simply would not have achieved what we have achieved without the King Island community. It is a wonderful story for Tasmania and the King Island story will be written into the legacy.
“This has been vital in proving the technology and its potential. Having achieved this goal, it is now time to consolidate on the success and learnings from the UniWave200 project to commercialise the technology,” Mr Wilson said.
Paul Geason added it was imagined as a pilot project. “We now will be looking at commercialisation which will require investment. This will mean the decommissioning of the unit over time. “The unit build to operational is estimated to be about $12m.”
The “oscillating water column” technology of Wave Swell Energy which works like a blowhole with no internal moving parts was backed by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) and private investors in conjunction with local network owner Hydro Tasmania.