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Environment and Climate Change minister Gavin Jennings said the Government supported the development of a wave energy pilot in waters around Portland, Warrnambool and Phillip Island.

“The Brumby Government is taking action to encourage investment in sustainable energy by supporting new technology that can produce power with no carbon emissions,” Mr Jennings said.

Energy and Resources Minister Peter Batchelor said the Brumby Government was investing to diversify the state’s renewable energy mix.

“We have made $72 million available to support large-scale demonstrations of leading sustainable energy technologies, such as solar, geothermal, biomass conversion, wave technology and energy storage,” Mr Batchelor said.

Carnegie Corporation has received approval under the Coastal Management Act 1995 to  use and develop coastal Crown land for three projects at Portland, Warrnambool and Phillip Island. Initial feasibility activities will include marine survey activities, CETO unit trials, and detailed measurement of the wave climate.

Wave energy is gaining support in S.A. and W.A. It has been given a boost today by the Victorian government.

Wave energy could supply all of Victoria's energy within ten years.

Pat Donnelly: "And that power can come from solar thermal which is already economic for much of Oz. But who knows what that is? Adroit use of grants will make sure it is not adopted for a long time, at least in bulk. It can even be used to store power if we heat sodium to liquify. Just engineering."

You may find there are many people who know what solar thermal power generation is, along with sodium black carbon energy storage. When combined with stirling engines they produce limitless free energy. Solar and wind are already economically viable and have been for many years, in fact you save a lot of money when using them in the right way along with LED and efficient energy control. There is virtually nothing you can't get which won't run on low voltage DC more efficiently, safely and reliably. Our houses, workshops and large motorsailer run on low voltage energy provided by the sun, wind and all our vehicles and engines use sustainable low polluting bio fuels.

All it takes is for people to get off their bums and do something for themselves, rather than wait for others to do it for them. If they wait for government and business to get around to it, it will never happen as all they are interested in is profits, single point control and distribution of energy, which anyone with half a brain can see is uneconomical, logistically stupid, environmentally destructive and unsustainable in every way.

If we set up every house with solar and wind, connected them to the gird and supplemented each community with solar towers, using the excess energy to power business in the area, we would reduce energy costs all around and stop blackouts completely. It would also allow funds to be moved to better more efficient infrastructure outcomes, rather than the billions wasted on coal, gas and expensive to maintain gird systems.

All the billions going into supporting banks, the coal, gas, car and oil industries and worthless spending handouts could be used to change the country, avoiding an economic collapse. As well as reduce pollution by more than 70 percent within a couple of years, if done right.

If it is such a good deal, why does he need the emotive language? As soon as it makes economic sense it will be adopted, if we preserve the private sector, which we probably will.

Australia needs to use solar power. Germany has enormous use of it already, not just PV but clever building so passive solar comes into play. With a bit of luck some out of work architect will design a few roofs that will allow in free solar heat, for winter time? Local generation of power will render much long distance transmission a relic. And waste of water to remove power from waste steam will be unnecessary.

And that power can come from solar thermal which is already economic for much of Oz. But who knows what that is?  Adroit use of grants will make sure it is not adopted for a long time, at least in bulk. It can even be used to store power if we heat sodium to liquify. Just engineering.

Fiona: Welcome to Webdiary, Pat. Regarding your final - deleted - request, please read our guidelines regarding abuse.

DC is far more efficient: at the same voltage, it suffers much lower transmission losses than AC. This is because in a DC line the direction of the current is constant, whereas in an AC line it reverses 100 or 120 times a second. This induces small currents in the transmission line insulation, and this energy is then lost as heat. Because of this, HVDC has long enjoyed a niche role transporting large amounts of power efficiently over unusually long distances. One of the earliest big projects was a 600-megawatt link built in 1965 in New Zealand to connect the North and South Islands, which was later upgraded to 1200 megawatts.

As we move to clean energy we will have to rethink methods of transmission.

It seems Edison was right all along - DC is more efficient. We will have to look at the electrical grid globally. With a global grid solar energy would be available 24/7. Millions of jobs would be created globally installing this new grid.