Shares in Carnegie Wave Energy slumped today after it missed out on federal government renewable energy funds for its wave power project at Garden Island.
Shares in Carnegie Wave Energy slumped today after it missed out on federal government renewable energy funds for its wave power project at Garden Island.
Resources Minister Martin Ferguson today awarded a total of $235 million, as part of its Renewable Energy Demonstration Program, to four commercial-scale projects.
Mr Ferguson said the funding - combined with money from the successful applicants to the program - will deliver about $810 million in renewable energy investment in Australia.
The funding is expected to deliver almost 80 megawatts of renewable energy generation from wave technology, geothermal sources, and an integrated mini-grid project involving wind, solar, bio-diesel and storage technologies.
The four successful lead companies which will receive the funding boost under the Renewable Energy Demonstration Program are Petratherm, Geodynamics, Victorian Wave Partners and the Hydro-Electric Corporation.
"These projects will diversify Australia's energy supply and help deliver the government's expanded Renewable Energy Target of 20 per cent by 2020," Mr Ferguson said.
The program would support the commercialisation of renewable energy and help accelerate the deployment of new renewable energy technologies for power generation in Australia, he said.
Carnegie had sought federal government funds for its first CETO wave energy project on Garden Island, which already has the backing from state government to the tune of $12.5 million.
As part of the funding arrangement, Carnegie will need to match the state government's contribution plus seek other sources for the $50 million project.
Carnegie managing director Michael Ottaviano said today he was disappointed with the outcome but it did not change anything for the company in the short-term.
"We will continue to develop our Garden Island project with the support of the Western Australian government's $12.5 million grant and then look to develop at our international sites where this is significant support for wave energy and where our projects have already received funding commitments from the French and Canadian governments," he said.
Shares in Carnegie, which were previously in a trading halt, fell 5.5 cents, or 27.5 per cent, to a low of 14.5c before climbing to 17c at 14:48 AEDT.
Two of the projects that were today awarded the federal government funds are in South Australia.
Petratherm will receive $62.762 million for an engineered geothermal system located adjacent to the Beverley uranium mine, while Geodynamics will receive $90 million for its hot-rock geothermal energy project to be located in the Cooper Basin in the state's north east.
The Geodynamics project will be the world's first multi-well hot fractured rock power project.
Victorian Wave Partners will get $66.465 million to construct the first commercial scale ocean energy project in Australia off Portland.
The Hydro-Electric Corporation, or Hydro Tasmania, will receive $15.280 million for its King Island renewable energy integration project.
The project will integrate wind, solar and energy storage with a bio-diesel generator to provide baseload and peak power for the King Island mini grid system, which uses diesel generators for its primary energy supply.
All of the grants are subject to successful offer negotiations.
