Perth company Bombora Wave Power will proceed with construction of its first commercial sized mWave device after securing multi-million dollar backing from international renewable energy consultancy Enzen.
Privately owned Bombora has selected Wales as the site for its first deployment but will continue to evaluate Western Australia as an option for the future.
Chief executive Sam Leighton said he and Bombora’s small team of engineers would relocate to Wales to work on the project.
In addition, he said Bombora was cooperating with Carnegie Clean Energy on the Albany wave energy project, which recently secured $31 million in government funding.
Mr Leighton said Bombora was looking forward to an opportunity in the future to deploy its mWave system at the Albany project, which is designed to accommodate multiple technologies.
Mr Leighton said the investment from Enzen would allow Bombora to accelerate testing of the membrane, valve and full-scale turbine and generator, which would have a capacity of 1.5 megawatts.
“Having a major energy company supporting our product allows the company to focus on bringing the mWave to market, and provides access to additional networks in the renewable energy industry,” he said.
The deployment and testing of the first unit was likely to be a two-and-a-half year project.
Mr Leighton told Business News the attractions of Wales included government grants, a skilled workforce and an established supply base.
“With their funding and tariff support, we can also see a clear pathway to full commercialisation,” he said.
Enzen Australia chief executive Dileep Viswanath said his group believed the mWave had the potential to be a robust solution for the large scale generation of clean energy.
Earlier this month, Enzen announced it was expanding its South Australian office from 30 to 250 staff.
Completion of the capital raising comes soon after Bombora restructured its board of directors, with energy executive Richard Beresford joining as chairman.
Mr Beresford has previously worked for Woodside and BG and is currently a director of ASX-listed companies Liquefied Natural Gas and Eden Innovations.
Former chair Tim Croot remains on the board as a non-executive director.
Brothers Shawn and Glen Ryan, who co-founded Bombora 10 years ago, have retired from the board this year.
