Project developer Carnegie Wave Energy said the unit has been operating under water for more than a week and will play a critical role in validating the company's wave energy expectations for the project, which is expected to supply 2 megawatts of power and potable desalinated water to HMAS Stirling at Garden Island.

"The successful operation of CETO 5 marks the completion of a critical phase in Carnegie's evolution and culmination of three years of design, financing, development and construction," Carnegie managing director Michael Ottaviano said.

"It is also now the start of a new phase as we learn as much as we can about CETO 5 via the data collection and analysis that has already commenced.

"This initial CETO 5 unit is currently delivering significant amounts of real time data on hydrodynamic movement, pressures, flows, loads, displacements and the like. All of which is critical to validating Carnegie's proprietary computational models."

The second CETO 5 unit is currently being finalised and will likely be deployed in December, subject to suitable weather conditions. Once confidence is established with its operation, installation of the third and final CETO 5 unit will follow.

The Perth Wave Energy project is the world's first demonstration of a complete grid-connected, commercial scale CETO system. If successful, its model will be used to finalise the design of Carnegie's one megawatt CETO 6 system next year - the commercial version of Carnegie's CETO 5 prototype.

If all goes to plan, three CETO 6 units will initially be deployed off the coast of Garden Island to generate an additional 3MW of power for HMAS Stirling, but at half the cost of that produced by CETO 5.

In June, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency committed $11 million towards the $46 million CETO 6 project, describing it as ground-breaking.

"The larger size of the CETO 6 units is a key driver of lower energy costs compared to the CETO 5 units," ARENA CEO Ivor Frischknecht said.

"A single CETO 6 unit will be capable of generating up to 1MW - about four times the capacity of the CETO 5 units.

"This increased generation capacity, combined with improved efficiency, delivers reduced power costs and brings the technology closer to commercialisation."

About CETO

The CETO system is different from other wave energy devices as it operates under water where it is safer from large storms and invisible from the shore. The technology is capable of generating power onshore or offshore depending upon the specific characteristics of a project site.

CETO technology can:

• Convert ocean wave energy into zero-emission electricity and desalinated water;
• Produce environmentally friendly energy with minimal visual impact;
• Operate fully submerged in deep water, away from breaking waves and beachgoers, and unaffected by storms.

For more on the Perth Wave Energy project, click here.