In the Power sector, tidal energy may be a big player in Australia’s carbon neutral future. Not only is Australia home to some of the largest tides on earth, tidal energy systems are considered to have among the highest technical maturity in the oceanic renewable sector.
At present, it is not currently a feasible solution for many reasons. Chief among them is that it’s more expensive than options such solar.
This is one such challenge that WSP’s Mohammad Seidaliseifabad, Senior Power Systems Engineer, has been involved in trying to solve – in the recently published paper, Tidal Energy Hosting Capacity in Australia’s Future Energy Mix.
The paper contributes to the final report of the Australian Tidal Energy (AUSTEn) three-year project to map Australia’s tidal energy resource in detail and assess its economic feasibility and ability to contribute to the country’s renewable energy needs.
Working on behalf of University of Sydney, Mohammad has played a lead role in assessing grid integration and grid studies to inform the report and recommendations.
“Every challenge opens the door for new opportunities and this would be the perfect challenge to apply our Future Ready framework to,” says Mohammad.
A collaborative effort between CSIRO and a slew of universities across Australia and around the world, the project was co-funded by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) Advancing Renewables Program. It was established to provide critical baseline information to help prospective developers, financiers, regulators and policymakers to establish what contribution tidal energy could make to Australia’s future energy mix.
According to the paper, international tidal energy developers have been prospectively seeking opportunities for Australian tidal energy projects. However, knowledge of Australia’s tidal resource, its spatial extent and technical implementation remained insufficient. This prevented the tidal energy industry, regulators, policy makers and research community to make any assessment of their risks for investment in potential projects.
This project helps decision makers and potential investors to understand the resource, risks and opportunities available, and overcoming current barriers to investment by increasing the competitiveness of tidal energy against other forms of ocean renewables.
To read the paper click HERE.
Learn more about the project HERE.
Learn more about WSP’s Power capabilities HERE.
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