Chatham Islands, New Zealand

A project to harness wave energy on the Chatham Islands has been awarded funding under the government's Marine Energy Deployment Fund, Energy and Resources Minister Gerry Brownlee announced today.

The proposal put forward by Chatham Islands Marine Energy Ltd (CHIME), to install a shore-based device to capture wave energy, has been awarded $2.16 million, subject to conditions, including receiving resource consent.

The project will see the construction of an oscillating water column to power two 110 kilowatt Wells turbines.  The device will be installed on the south-west coast of Chatham Island, and will supply electricity into the island's electricity network.

Chatham Islands Management Limited
Ron Tuuta Trustee and Chatham Islands Ports Limited Director have been contracted as Acting Chief Executive Officer of the Chatham Islands Enterprise Trust until this position is filled.

We welcome La Toya Hough to the staff; La Toya replaced Deidre Thomas as our cleaner.

CIET Trustees, Councillors and Iwi/Imi Trustees have made the decision to meet monthly to attend monthly Whanaungatanga (Relationship) Hui, each governance group has a turn at hosting and the aim of these hui is for the groups to let each other know what is happening within their organizations merely as a communication tool these hui are informal and no set agenda is made but at times there have been requests for a particular item to be discussed.