A project to be supervised by Chatham Islands Marine Energy Ltd. is reported to have received Government’s backing.

The Government’s Marine Energy Deployment Fund has raised a fund worth $2.16 million for the project, aimed to harness ocean wave energy on the Chatham Islands, Energy and Resources Minister Gerry Brownlee unveiled, today.

However, the fund extended is reported to be subjected to conditions including receiving resource consent.

Under the project, installation of two 110 KW turbines will be done on the south-west coast of the main Chatham island. The new installation is reported to be enough to serve nearly 50% of the island’s electricity requirements.

In addition, the project is expected to extend assistance to other remote areas of New Zealand along with some Pacific islands as well, Energy and Resources Minister Gerry Brownlee outlined.

He further posited that this renewable energy project was much needed for the Island as it was witnessing a soaring dependency on diesel for power generation, which was polluting as well as costly.

Besides, funding has also been facilitated to Crest Energy’s Kaipara Harbor project and Wave-Energy Technology New Zealand’s pre-commercial device, to be installed in Taranaki.