Cork-based company develops wave energy system with US multinational

US MULTINATIONAL Dresser Rand is joining forces with an Irish company on a project to develop commercial ocean energy systems.

Cork-based Ocean Energy said yesterday that Dresser Rand has agreed to develop and supply turbines for its system for converting wave energy to electricity.

Ocean Energy has been testing its system at a Government-designated site in Galway Bay since November 2007, and is preparing to move it a step closer to commercial development.

The system is a partly submerged L-shaped chamber with a turbine attached at right angles above the water line.

As the wave advances, water fills the chamber and pushes the air out, driving the turbine and generating power.

As the wave retreats, the chamber empties, creating a vacuum which sucks the air back in, again driving the turbine.

The system has been producing electricity, which is being fed into the national grid. It has also proved that it can survive storms and the rough conditions on the west coast.

Dresser Rand will develop and design the air-driven turbines for the system.

The US company is a specialist in this area, and manufactures turbines for conventional electricity generation. It also produces ventilation systems and has businesses in the oil and gas industry.

It is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and has a market capitalisation in the region of $2.5 billion (€1.84 billion).

Ocean Energy chief executive John McCarthy said yesterday that the multinational has designated a product development team to work on its system.

“We are the only company in the world Dresser Rand have entered into a development and supply agreement with, and we see this not only as an endorsement of our technology but of the Irish Government’s development strategy for the industry,” Mr McCarthy said.

The Government provided and funded the test bed used by Ocean Energy and other developers. The site is close to Spiddal in Galway Bay.

A large number of companies around the world are working on developing systems for generating electricity from wave power. If one comes up with a commercially viable system, estimates of the market that could be exploited run to €200 billion a year.

Mr McCarthy, Michael Whelan and John Keating formed the company with €1 million of their own money in 2001. They developed their prototypes with the aid of the Hydraulic Marine Research Centre in University College Cork (UCC) and Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI).