Wave power along the southeast coast of Australia is a large and viable source of renewable energy, a study claims.

A team of researchers from the Griffith University School of Engineering and CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research based their wave energy model on data collected over a 31-year period between 1979 and 2010. Data was collected along the east coast of Australia extending roughly 1,100 miles from Fraser Island in the north to Eden in the south.

Annual mean wave power levels are sustainable across the continental shelf off southeastern Australia. Image credit: PixabayAccording to the study's authors, which include Griffith University Senior Lecturer Nick Cartwright, the assessment improves on existing wave energy resource assessments in the region by dynamically downscaling global scale model hindcasts into shallow coastal waters with a high-resolution wave energy transformation model.

The model estimates the annual electric power that could be potentially generated by a number of pre-commercial wave energy converters, including the Pelamis, Wave Dragon, and Aqua Buoy, on the basis of wave power conversion matrices in conjunction with modeled wave energy distribution matrices.

The study found that annual mean wave power levels are sustainable across the continental shelf, with the highest-energy concentrations located off the central coast of New South Wales (NSW) north of Sydney and near the border between NSW and Victoria. Specifically, the study indicated that the region has the potential to generate approximately 17 gigawatt-hours of electricity annually from a single wave farm.

In an effort to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, the Australian government has legislated a renewable energy target scheme to ensure that at least 23.5% of the country’s electricity generation, or 17 terawatt-hours, will come from renewable energy sources by 2020. By installing 1,000 wave farms, the authors suggest, the government could reach this target.