REH.L Regulatory News (REH)

17 May 2007 07:01

Renewable Energy Holdings plc17 May 2007 17 May 2007 RENEWABLE ENERGY HOLDINGS PLC ("REH") ANNOUNCEMENT RE CETO The directors of REH ("Directors") acknowledge the announcement made earliertoday by Carnegie Corporation Limited ("Carnegie") of Perth, Australia regardingREH's CETO technology, the full text of which is set out below. While theDirectors believe Carnegie's approach to the first commercial CETO installationto be a potentially successful route and whilst an agreement with Carnegie isunder discussion, no such agreement has yet been finalised or entered into. The full text of Carnegie's announcement now follows: "WAVE ENERGY FARMS OFF SOUTHERN AUSTRALIAN STATES CAN PROVIDE FUTURE WATER AND POWER NEEDS The Company wishes to advise of a proposal for a world-first base-load renewableenergy power station and zero emission desalination plant presented today toFederal Minister for Industry, Ian Macfarlane at the CETO R&D facilities inFremantle, Western Australia. The CETO technology is currently owned by AIM listed Renewable Energy HoldingsPLC (REH) with Carnegie Corporation being a founder and equity holder with boardrepresentation on REH. Carnegie may directly participate on a project by projectbasis subject to detailed agreement with REH and appropriate financing beingestablished. Following on from successful trials last year off Fremantle, the CETO system,which harvests energy from the ocean waves, is on track to begin full scaledeployment off southern capital cities in 2009. Carnegie Managing Director, Dr Michael Ottaviano, said that Australia wasuniquely positioned to take advantage of the CETO technology for both its powerand water needs. "We are currently finalizing details for the world's first base-load renewableenergy power station. A 50MW demonstration CETO Wave Farm would supply powerfor around 40,000 households and cost around $400 million." Dr Ottaviano said. "If the project gets the go ahead this year, then we will be able to startconstruction in 2009, with full capacity achieved in 2012. Once it is inoperation, the generation cost should be competitive with fossil fuelalternatives because it has zero fuel costs". The preliminary proposal involves the deployment of around 300 CETO units whichwould provide 50MW of peak installed power capacity and 25MW average capacity.Additional onshore desalination infrastructure is included as an option in theproposal which would allow the 300 unit wave farm to also act as a 50GL/yearzero-emission desalination station. All of Australia's southern mainland cities' current water needs could besatisfied by CETO units covering an area of 155 hectares (70 AFL football ovals)of sea floor at around 75% of the price of current desalination projects. Inaddition, these Wave Farms would generate around 300 MW of zero-emission power,enough for about 300,000 households. CETO inventor, Carnegie chairman and REH director Alan Burns said the CETOtechnology provides a solution to Australia's water crisis as well as helping toreduce greenhouse gas emissions from its power generation sector. "Australia's largest, cleanest energy resource is its ocean's waves and for mostAustralians, this resource is within short transmission distances." Mr Burnssaid. The Company & REH have commenced the process of developing detailed co-operationterms which will progress in parallel with site selection and approvalprocesses. Wave Energy & CETO background: Named after the Greek ocean goddess, the CETO system distinguishes itself fromother wave energy devices by resting out of sight on the ocean floor. An arrayof submerged buoys is tethered to seabed pump units. The buoys move in harmonywith the motion of the passing waves, driving the pumps which in turnpressurises seawater and deliver it ashore via a pipeline. The high-pressureseawater can then be used to supply a reverse osmosis desalination plant,replacing greenhouse gas emitting pumps usually required for such plants. Thehigh-pressure seawater can also be used to drive hydro turbines, generatingzero-emission electricity. Other wave energy & CETO characteristics include: • Wave energy is a renewable, zero-emission source of power. • 60% of the world lives within 60km of a coast, removing transmission issues. • As water is about 800 times denser than air, the energy density of waves exceeds that of wind many times over dramatically increasing the amount of energy available for harvesting. • Waves are predictable days in advance making it easy to match supply and demand. (Wind is predictable hours in advance at best.) • CETO sits underwater, moored to the sea floor, meaning there is no aesthetic impact. • CETO units operate in deep water, away from breaking waves. The waves regenerate once they pass the CETO units, meaning there is no impact on popular surfing sites. • CETO units are designed to operate in harmony with the waves rather than attempting to resist them. This means there is no need for massive steel and concrete structures to be built. • CETO is the only wave energy technology that produces fresh water directly from seawater by magnifying the pressure variations in ocean waves. • Any combination of power and water can be achieved from 100% power through to 100% water. • CETO contains no oils, lubricants, or offshore electrical components. CETO is built from components with a known subsea life of over 30 years. • CETO units act like artificial reefs in the way they attract marine life. Carnegie Corporation (CNM) is a clean energy technology developer currentlyinvolved in developing two clean energy technologies: the CETO Wave Energytechnology & its 100% owned clean coal technology, Cleaner Coal Power. Carnegieis focused on developing and investing in clean energy technologies that willlead to revenue generating projects globally." END For further information, please contact: Renewable Energy Holdings plc Nabarro Wells & Co. LimitedMike Proffitt, Chief Executive Richard SwindellsTel: 01624 641199 Tel: 020 7710 7400 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange