Carnegie secures additional $1 million to fund CETO wave energy deployment
Carnegie Clean Energy (ASX: CCE) has signed a Deed of Variation to increase the Commitment Amount of its Loan Agreement by $1 million, lifting the Total Commitment Amount to $3.5 million. The additional facility provides temporary cashflow support to bridge the timing gap between procurement and assembly costs already incurred and retrospective milestone payments due from ACHIEVE Programme funders.
The lender is Ballamena Pty Ltd ATF Ellann Finance Unit Trust. The funds have been utilised by Carnegie subsidiaries CETO Wave Energy Ireland and Carnegie Technologies Spain for procurement expenditure tied to the deployment of CETO in the Basque Country, keeping the deployment moving without disruption while milestone payments catch up.
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Inside the revised loan terms
The facility is not new. The Loan Agreement was originally announced in October 2024 and previously varied in July 2026. This latest Deed of Variation increases the total commitment and introduces options to the lender, while maintaining all other existing terms.
| Term | Detail |
|---|---|
| Borrower | Carnegie Clean Energy Limited |
| Lender | Ballamena Pty Ltd ATF Ellann Finance Unit Trust |
| Total Commitment Amount | $3.5 million (increased by $1 million) |
| Interest | 15% per annum |
| Final Repayment Date | 30 June 2027 |
| Repayment | Part or whole repayments allowed in advance with no penalty |
| Security | Featherweight General Security Agreement |
| Options to Lender | 5 million options, exercise price $0.27, expiry 14 July 2029 |
The 5 million options and the increased Commitment Amount are the newly adjusted terms under this variation. All other terms, including the interest rate, repayment flexibility, and security arrangement, are maintained from the existing agreement.
According to the announcement, the loan will be repaid through the following sources:
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Receipt of future milestone payments from ACHIEVE Programme funders
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Research and development tax incentives
What the ACHIEVE Programme means for CETO’s commercialisation
Carnegie develops ocean energy technologies. Its CETO® and MoorPower® systems capture energy from ocean waves and convert it into electricity, making them a form of marine renewable power generation.
The ACHIEVE Programme is a collaborative initiative under which Carnegie will deploy and operate a CETO prototype at the Basque Marine Energy Platform (BiMEP) in the Basque Country, Spain. The company states this marks “a key step on CETO’s commercialisation pathway.” Data collected at the open ocean site will be used to validate the performance of the CETO technology.
The programme draws on funding from several public backers:
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EuropeWave PCP (via the EuropeWave Buyers Group), which has contracted CETO Wave Energy Ireland to deliver the ACHIEVE Project
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Spanish Government through the RENMARINAS Demos Programme (AGUAMARINA Project)
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Basque Government through a grant from the Ente Vasco de la Energía, or EVE (ACHIEVE+ Project)
Because these funders make retrospective milestone payments, expenditure is incurred before the corresponding funds arrive. This timing lag is precisely what the loan facility is designed to address, allowing procurement and assembly work to proceed ahead of funder reimbursements.
An EuropeWave milestone payment of approximately $103k AUD was triggered in May 2026 when Spanish national and coastal authorities granted specific deployment authorisation for the CETO device at BiMEP, illustrating how programme-gated funding flows as regulatory and technical deliverables are completed.
Why the funding structure matters for investors
The variation preserves momentum on a milestone-funded deployment. By accessing additional temporary cashflow support, Carnegie can continue advancing the CETO deployment without disruption while awaiting funder payments and R&D tax incentives.
Importantly, the facility is structured as bridging finance rather than permanent debt. It is intended to be repaid from committed future milestone receipts and tax incentives, with a Final Repayment Date of 30 June 2027 providing the repayment runway.
Purpose of the additional commitment
“Due to a continued lag between procurement and assembly costs already incurred by the Company and the payment of key milestone payments from funders, the Company elected to accept this additional commitment of $1 million which can be available to provide additional temporary cashflow support.”
For investors, the near-term operational milestone to watch is the deployment and operation of the CETO unit at BiMEP. Continued progress on the deployment in the Basque Country, with repayment tied to milestone receipts, will be the key indicator of how the programme advances from here.
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