Firm’s woes ‘no threat’ to Albany renewable energy plan

There are no concerns wave energy pioneer Carnegie Clean Energy’s struggles will have an impact on the City of Albany’s plan to use only renewable energy within two decades, according to Albany’s Mayor.

Last week Carnegie announced it had missed a project deadline to receive a $5.2 million State Government payment, it had dumped its chief executive and was pushing back the sale of its microgrid arm.

This came after Carnegie’s share price dropped to a new low of 1c after being as high as 40c a decade ago.

However, Mayor Dennis Wellington said these incidents would not have an impact on the City’s plan to be energy self-sufficient by 2026.

Mr Wellington said wave energy had not been included because it is substantially more expensive than other energy generation methods.

“Wave energy would form part of (the plan) in maybe 20 years time, but not now,” he said.

In June a Carnegie spokesman said wave energy could feasibly provide 10 per cent of WA’s energy by 2040.