The company hoping to build the world's biggest wave power plant in Western Australia has missed out on federal funding.

Carnegie Corporation had planned to build the plant at Albany in the state's South Coast but recently announced it will move its trial plant to Garden Island.

Carnegie Managing Director Michael Ottaviano said in a statement that the company will continue to develop its Garden Island project using funds from the State Government.

He says the French and Canadian governments have already backed the company to build wave power plants in their countries, and so it will now turn its focus overseas.