Wave energy developer Carnegie Wave Energy Limited (CWE) in Perth, Australia is poised to become the very first company in the world to build a wave-powered desalination plant and the first to have a wave energy project that delivers both electrons and fresh water.
Carnegie has announced that it has received $142,692 as the first payment of its $1.27m AusIndustry grant to support a CETO Seawater Desalination Demonstration Pilot Plant.
The pilot desalination project is slated to begin now that Carnegie has signed a cooperation agreement with the WA-based Water Corporation. The pilot will be built by the Perth Wave energy demonstration project that is being constructed close to the Garden Island naval base.
Carnegie’s project will integrate reverse osmosis technology with the wave energy project.
Water Corp built the very first mainland desalination plant in Australia at Kwinana in 2006 and started building a second plant at Binningup in 2013. These two plants will supply 100 billion liters of freshwater between the two of them, close to half of the city’s drinking water needs.
Perth sees desalination as a long-term solution for a safe and clean water supply as well as an environmentally friendly choice since it produces no greenhouse gas emissions. If this project is successful, it will be the world’s first wave-powered desalination plant.
