Annual Report 2018
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Country Reports

AUSTRALIA

Mark Hemer and Tracey Pitman (CSIRO) Stephanie Thornton (Australian Ocean Energy Group)

 

OVERVIEW

A key highlight for Australia’s ocean energy (OE) community was re-instatement of Australian membership in OES. Membership is currently supported by a grant from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency and their International Engagement Program. Improved communication and interaction nationally and with international community is already evident. Participation in the OES task groups is proving to strengthen domestic OE community connections and networks, which contributed to a highly successful second annual ocean energy conference in November 2018. 

Notwithstanding the challenges, a number of Australian developers and researchers are engaged in a few well-advanced development and research projects, primarily tidal and/or wave energy. Four Australian companies are developing devices for local sites, and another 2 Australian company projects are planned for deployment outside Australia. One device, MAKO tidal, was deployed in an Australian port in 2018. A national wave energy resource assessment was completed in 2017 and is available via the Australian Wave Energy Atlas. A national tidal energy resource assessment is under way, and a new wave energy research centre has been established in Western Australia. A proposal to establish a centre for offshore wind and wave energy in South Australia has also been shortlisted as part of an Australia-China Science research-funding initiative.  The industry continues to strengthen as a result of the formation of the Australian Ocean Energy Group (AOEG), a virtual ocean energy cluster, which evolved from the Australian Marine Energy Taskforce and seed funding provided by the National Energy Resources Australia (NERA). AOEG will be formally established in early 2019.