UWA’s Moored Multi-Modal Multibody device delivered to Albany Marina ahead of King George Sound deployment

After more than a year of hard work being assembled at the MCB construction yard, Albany’s first wave energy generator project was delivered into the water last Tuesday. The large sunflower yellow Moored Multi-Modal Multibody device — or M4 — is now floating in the Albany Waterfront Marina waiting to be towed into King George Sound, where it will sit for six months generating clean energy from the movement of the waves and transmitting real-time data on its effectiveness. Run by the University of Western Australia’s Marine Energy Research Australia and funded by Blue Economy Cooperative Research Centre and the State Government, the device will inform researchers about the potential of the Great Southern as a site for future wave projects. Speaking at the device’s official launch ceremony in September, MERA and UWA Oceans Institute director Christophe Gaudin said the project is of “international significance”. “It is a world-first, a fully open-sourced wave energy generator for which all data gathered during the operation will be displayed on the specific website and be made available to the public domain,” he said. “By doing so, we plan to uplift the whole wave energy industry, sharing the lessons learnt during the project and bringing confidence to investors and users.”