WAVE-FARM DEVELOPMENT:A CONSORTIUM of Irish and Scottish companies is bidding for €20 million of European funding to develop Ireland's first commercial-scale wave farm off the west coast.
The WestWave group, led by ESB International (ESBI) includes Irish firms Wavebob and OceanEnergy, while Aquamarine Power, headed by Irishman Martin McAdam, a former executive with Airtricity, and Pelamis Wave Power are the Scottish companies involved.
Associated partners include engineering firms Siemens and Alstom, wave farm development firm Tonn Energy and Swedish energy firm Vattenfall.
The funding, through the European Investment Bank’s €4.5 billion NER 300 scheme, will help to cover the costs of the pre-commercial nature of the project, which will also be financed from additional sources, including the Refit (renewable energy feed-in tariff) for wave energy and Irish grant programmes.
“This is beyond the RD stage but not yet at the commercial stage, so it’s a scheme designed to share knowledge about how to safely design, construct, deploy and operate a wave farm in Irish waters. We will be collaboratively learning how to overcome any problems we encounter and therefore it paves the way for full wave farms,” said ESB international ocean energy manager Colm de Búrca.
Under the WestWave plan, up to 10MW of small array projects are to be developed by 2015, with the aim of developing larger commercially viable projects towards 2020, in line with the Government aim of having 500MW of ocean energy connected to the grid by then.
ESBI has applied for foreshore licences to conduct marine measurements and surveys at Killard Point, Co Clare and Achill, Co Mayo. A third site is being considered in Belmullet, Co Mayo, which is an existing marine energy test site.
If the licences are granted, ESBI will deploy wave measurement buoys for up to two years to assess the wave energy potential at each site and undertake environmental studies and hydrographic surveys to assess the seabed conditions.
If WestWave is successful in attracting funding, it is hoped it will garner the interest of other utility companies in funding the development of larger wave farms here.
While such investment would be welcome, any significant jobs opportunities from an Irish marine energy sector will come from developing a skills base here and exploiting supply chain gaps that lead to exporting opportunities for Irish companies.
