Australia's transition away from fossil fuels is being paved by sun and wind, but what about waves?

Wave energy generation — the concept of using ocean waves to create electricity — is still in its early stages, but researchers and industry figures say it is a field in which Australia could be a world leader.

After bitter disappointments in recent times, the technology needs to prove itself to generate the investment and political support to catch up with solar, wind, and batteries.

It is hoped the Blue Economy Cooperative Research Centre's (BECRC) M4 Wave Energy Converter trial, taking place in Albany, 400 kilometres south of Perth on WA's south coast, can help make that case.

Potential energy

After three years of testing, the M4 Wave Energy Converter has gone into the waters of King George Sound on Albany's outskirts.

The harbour protects the device from the rougher conditions of the open sea, but there are other reasons why researchers are interested in a region so far south.

The waves of the Southern Ocean are some of the strongest, most power-dense in the world — another natural resource Australia is rich in.

University of WA researcher Dr Hugh Wolgamot said the additional form of energy generation would diversify the energy mix, filling in the gaps of solar and wind, and therefore saving money otherwise spent on batteries.

"Particularly in the south of Australia, if you include wave energy with wind and solar then the amount you would need to spend on batteries would be dramatically reduced," he said.

The view has also been expressed by another group eyeing trials in Albany, Perth-based company WaveX, which plans to deploy its own device in the same region next year.

Southern Ocean science

The "shovel" in this case, the M4, is a set of large yellow floats connected with a metal frame measuring 24 metres long and 9.5 metres wide.

It is designed to float on water and flex as waves move past it, leading to movement which generates energy.

For decades, engineers and scientists have struggled to create a device which can sit in salty water and handle the rough seas it would generate energy from.

The M4's sturdy build, based on similar designs used in offshore industries such as oil and gas, is designed to overcome this.

But part of the trial will be about seeing if it can remain aligned with wave swell to efficiently capture energy.

The trial is expected to provide power in the range of just kilowatts but is hoped to be a stepping stone to bigger things.

To put it in perspective, Albany's wind farm produces a maximum capacity of 35.4MW (35,400kW) which is equivalent to 80 per cent of the city's needs.

The power generated will go to nearby businesses, such as a local aquaculture group, to prove the technology has a commercial value.

Economics of electricity

Despite its purported advantages, BECRC and two Australian companies have said support from governments is needed to take the technology from the experimental stage to the commercial.

In 2019, Albany was set to become the home of Australia's first commercial-scale wave farm.

However, the state government pulled its funding due to financial woes facing the project's owner, Fremantle-based company Carnegie Clean Energy, but not before costing tax payers $2.6 million.

Carnegie managed to revive itself after narrowly avoiding liquidation and won a $1.9 million contract with the Spanish government in 2023.

Both Carnegie and Melbourne-based Wave Swell have publicly stated the support and funding on offer in Europe makes it a far more attractive place to develop their technology.

BECRC, which is funded by the federal government, expressed similar views in a report released in September.

"In Europe and the US, there's a national, coordinated approach to wave energy because it's recognised as a potentially important strategic resource," Dr Wolgamot said as an author of the report.

"In the US, over the last five years, they've spent about $100 million a year to support ocean energy research.

Governments split

The ABC asked the federal government if it would take on the recommendations made by BECRC.

The Commonwealth has recently provided $2.5 million to WaveX, but its response was non-committal.

"Wave energy is still in the early demonstration and deployment phase of the commercialisation pathway," said a spokesperson for the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.

The spokesperson said the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) was focused on bringing renewable energy prices down to below $25/MWh, meaning its focus was on established solar technology.

Professor Andrew Blakers of the Australian National University said he believed it was "too late" for wave energy, or nuclear, to catch up as the economies of scale were already established for solar, wind, and batteries.

By building solar, wind, and batteries at a large scale, across a wide range of places, he believes any shortcomings can be overcome in a more cost-effective way than finding new technologies.

"Solar and wind have, hands down, won the global energy race," Professor Blakers said.

Western Australia's Cook government provided $1.55 million to the M4 project, and Science Minister Stephen Dawson said he was confident the technology had a commercial future.

"Having spent a lot of time with the team down here on the wave project I'm confident there is something to this," Mr Dawson said.

"We're very keen to ensure that we're playing our role in decarbonising the planet and wave energy is one of those areas that may help us."

The M4 trial will last six months.