R.I. announces wave-energy deal with Oceanlinx

THE AUSTRALIAN FIRM says it would build a 1.5-megawatt plant off Block Island, followed by a 20-megawatt plant elsewhere, under its deal with the State of Rhode Island.

By David Ortiz
PBN Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE – Gov. Donald L. Carcieri will ink a deal with a Sydney, Australia-based energy developer to build a $45 million wave-energy electricity project in Rhode Island waters, including a plant off Block Island, that could reduce the state’s electricity costs.

The R.I. Office of Energy Resources and the R.I. Economic Development Corporation have agreed to a memorandum of understanding with Oceanlinx Ltd., a developer of wave technology energy facilities, to install a 1.5-megawatt wave-energy electricity generating unit close to Block Island, to be followed by another, larger wave-energy unit at another location, capable of generating up to 20 megawatts, according to the company’s Web site.

The initial electricity-generating unit will be funded by grants of up to $4 million from the state, with the balance expected to be financed by low-interest-rate bonds.

The installation will advance Carcieri’s goal of obtaining 20 percent of the state’s energy from renewable resources by 2011.

The governor is scheduled to announce details of the project at an 11 a.m. press conference tomorrow (Dec. 4) at the University of Rhode Island’s Narragansett Bay Campus. Tom Dennis, who founded Oceanlinx a decade ago and now serves as its chief technology officer, will attend the event.

The company has proven its wave-energy technology during trial runs in Port Kembla, Australia, and has signed additional agreements for developments in England, Australia, Namibia and in Hawaii. In April, it filed a preliminary permit application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for an offshore wave-energy facility near Florence, Ore.

Its system using a parabolic wave focuser to concentrate wave energy was honored by the International Academy of Science as one of the Top 10 Most Outstanding Technologies of 2006.

Carcieri had first publicly proposed a deal with Oceanlinx in July, at which time Andrew Dzykewicz, commissioner of the Office of Energy Resources, had said the company was considering locating its U.S. headquarters here in Rhode Island. (PBN subscribers can READ MORE about both Oceanlinx and the governor’s alternative energy plans, including Carcieri’s proposal for a state Power Authority.)

Additional information about Rhode Island energy programs and policies is available from the R.I. Office of Energy Resources at www.energy.ri.gov.