Renewable energy in Australia approaching 10 per cent

The Clean Energy Council of Australia announced at the climate negotiations in Durban that 9.6% of Australia's power now came from renewable sources: solar photovoltaic, wind, and large scale hydro-electric. More than half a million household solar power systems were now installed on Australian rooftops – around 35 times the amount just three years ago at the end of 2008.

Clean Energy Council Director Kane Thornton said Australia was on target for sourcing 20 per cent of its electricity from renewable energy by 2020.

Wave Energy pilot project for Port Fairy receives Victorian Government funding

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Surf coast residents in Victoria may be drawing some of their electricity from the ocean waves that comes crashing into the beaches in the not too distant future. The Victorian state Government has awarded Ocean energy company, BioPower Systems (BPS) $5 million of funding under the Sustainable Energy Pilot Demonstration Program to establish a $14 million pilot demonstration of the company’s 250kW bioWAVE ocean wave energy system at a grid-connected site near Port Fairy, Victoria.

"In developing the bioWAVE technology we set out to address the many issues that have bedeviled most wave energy technologies," said CEO, Dr Timothy Finnigan. The undersea generator is designed to mimic the motion of large sea plants such as kelp under wave action. The critical components have just finished full scale testing at the companies Mascot factory in Sydney and the company is hoping to have the pilot project operational by 2013.