WOODSIDE Australian Energy’s sustainable energy subsidiary, Metasource, has undergone major changes since its launch just more than 12 months ago.Not only has there been a change in managing director, there’s also been a shift in focus.
WOODSIDE Australian Energy’s sustainable energy subsidiary, Metasource, has undergone major changes since its launch just more than 12 months ago.
Not only has there been a change in managing director, there’s also been a shift in focus.
When first created, Metasource had $25 million worth of investments in various projects and was planning to establish and develop its own renewable and sustainable ventures.
While its role remains to give appropriate focus to renewable and sustainable energy, and to bring it to the financial markets – increasing the value of its portfolio to $50 million along the way – Metasource also offers funding, technical and management support to other project developers, and makes further investments.
Metasource also expects to contribute significantly to Woodside’s profit within 10 years, as its projects require much less substantial up-front monetary investment, and its commercial lead times are shorter than for oil and gas exploration.
Metasource managing director Jack Hamilton said the company had repositioned itself in recognition of its expertise and ability to support an emerging industry with a range of technologies.
This year Metasource has been looking at several promising Australian investment opportunities, including some wind options.
Seeking global applications and ability to compete in open markets, Metasource has plans to invest $80 million in emerging technologies, associated power generation and storage, and services, during the next three years.
The company is also concerning itself with electricity market re-form, from the point of view of the renewable sector.
Metasource questions the need for a Western Power move into renewable energy, given the stated Government philosophy of promoting private investment and competition, and the amount of interest from the private sector.
While accommodating renewables in the electricity system create somes technical problems, Metasource maintains the Government must push for the implementation of recommendations from the Electricity Reform Task Force to ease the burden on renewables needing to meet current demanding load balancing and access requirements.
In its submission to the task force, Metasource has suggested changes to acts and regulations to enable companies to set up microgrids to supply buildings or industries within the one area, under technical regulation from the Office of Energy.
Metasource has retained all its initial investments, including a 31.8 per cent stake in Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited, a Melbourne–based company hoping to be one of the first in the international commercial market with technology that converts LPG and natural gas without combustion.
Established in 1993 as a result of CSIRO research, Ceramic Fuel Cells will have a 40 kilowatt prototype power unit completed by the end of this year and is hoping to produce 1000 hours of power early next year.
Metasource’s input comes in the form of the marketing and commercialisation of this technology.
Another of Metasource’s investments, wave energy company Ocean Power Technologies (Australasia), has a 20 kilowatt buoy off Portland Victoria, ready to produce power sufficient for up to six average households, while parent company Ocean Power Technologies Inc has secured a power supply contract with the US Navy.
Still in the early stages of development, wind, wave, solar and fuel cell power generation is not yet commercially competitive with large-scale generation.
The cost of wave power is around 15 cents per kilowatt, 25 cents per unit for solar, but needs to be down to single figures to be competitive.
Wind power is the most competitive of all the renewable technologies at present, but it is still a challenge in Australia to establish profitable projects.
Dr Hamilton believes renewable energy certificates ought to offer support of up to four cents per kilowatt.
He describes the Federal Government’s mandatory renew-able energy target of a 2 per cent increase in renewable generation by 2010 as “extremely modest”. By comparison, the UK is aiming for 10 per cent and Germany 12 per cent. Dr Hamilton hopes this level will be lifted to 5 per cent when the Government undertakes a review next year.
In a quest to introduce smarter ways to deliver gas, Metasource is continuing its support of synthetic natural gas hydrates research at Curtin University of Technology’s School of Petroleum Engineering, through a Woodside-Curtin research facility.
The project, to look at producing gas that is comparatively stable at elevated temperatures and low pressures, is at another funding decision-point – whether to proceed with a multi-million dollar demonstration unit, involving small-scale production, transportation, regassification and electricity generation onsite.
A final decision on the location of the unit has not been made, but Metasouce is considering a WA commercial operation.
In the absence of an established market for carbon credit trading – and ahead of a Tree Plantation Agreements Bill and a Carbon Rights Bill (introduced into the WA Legislative Assembly last month) – Metasource has continued planting oil mallee near Esperance with a view to retaining these as a carbon sink and supplying feed for biomass power generation.
In alliance with the Oil Mallee Company of Australia, Metasource has now planted one million seedlings.
“The movement towards a more efficient use of the lower carbon fuels and into sustainable and renewable fuels is going to continue – it’s just a matter of the timeframe,” Dr Hamilton said.
“This century, for the first half, is going to be gas, and that’s where we are.
“But we’re also positioning ourselves for the second half, where there’ll be much more of an influence from the renewables.”
Metasource will move from its top-of-the-Terrace location late next year into the Woodside building under construction on the corner of Milligan Street and St Georges Terrace.
