WEEK SEVEN: Renewable energy and sustainable resources are proving a lucrative market for Irish businesses, reports CAROLINE MADDEN

AS PART of Engineers’ Week earlier this month, groups of school students attended an event to find out more about renewable energy. Surprisingly, the event took place not in some state-of-the-art venue but in the fairytale setting of Kylemore Abbey, which sits on the shore of Lough Pollacappul, in the heart of the Connemara mountains.

Although we might assume that this generation is the first to come up with clever, clean, sustainable methods of generating energy, the students who visited Kylemore Abbey discovered that this isn’t the case. Since the 1890s, the Abbey has been creating its own green power using a hydro-electric generator which harnesses energy from a small mountain stream.

Not only is this generator still working, but the abbey now creates enough electricity to sell some of it back to the national grid. If the owners of Kylemore Abbey could generate renewable energy more than a century ago by tapping into the natural resources around them, just imagine the potential that now exists.

Andrew Parish is chief executive of Wavebob, an Irish company developing a wave energy convertor – the “Wavebob” – which harnesses the power of the ocean to produce clean, renewable energy. Parish points out that Ireland has access to the largest wave energy resources on the planet off its west coast. This offers “massive opportunities” in terms of becoming self-sufficient from an energy perspective.

It comes as a refreshing surprise, given the current mood of discontent in the State to discover that Parish has nothing but praise for the supports for his sector.

The Government has chosen to stimulate the indigenous technology sector in developing methods of exploiting marine energy, rather than simply importing technology from elsewhere.

For example, the Government has made a sheltered wave energy test site in Galway Bay available to Wavebob. There is also a commitment to develop an open ocean grid connection site, which Parish says is “hugely significant”, as it will give the company access to “some of the most energetic seas in the world”.

Wavebob has also received support from a network of Government agencies, from Sustainable Energy Ireland (which provided significant grants) and Enterprise Ireland (which now has a dedicated CleanTech division), to IDA Ireland and the Marine Institute.

“We have no complaints about the commitment of Government to this space,” he says. “Very few sectors can say that.”

In addition to the environmental benefits of exploiting our green energy resources, the sector has the potential to contribute significantly to the economy and create much-needed employment.

Parish estimates that, over the long term, the wave energy industry could create tens of thousands of jobs.

Marina Donohoe heads up Enterprise Ireland’s CleanTech division, which supports 30-40 companies with a strong export agenda in the renewable energy sector, including wind energy, marine renewable energy (both wave and tidal) and biomass energy. Ireland “absolutely” has the potential to be at the forefront of this sector, she believes.

For example, Dublin-headquartered OpenHydro is considered “ahead of the race” in the tidal technology space, and Wavebob has a similar reputation in wave energy technology, she says.

However, given the amount of money being ploughed into green stimulus packages around the world at the moment, the opportunity must be grasped now. She warns Ireland will lose its position unless Irish companies continue to scale up, innovate and succeed in breaking into international markets.

Of course, none of this is possible without funding, which has been in short supply of late given the financial constraints in Ireland. As a result, many of the Enterprise Ireland-supported renewable energy companies now have a “very, very serious appetite” for funding, Donohoe says.

The agency has been working on introducing these companies to sources of investment, mainly overseas, such as international CleanTech venture capital (VC) funds.

Last November, Enterprise Ireland brought 15 companies to an investor forum in London, where they pitched to an audience of 60 CleanTech VCs, and it is hoped that several deals will come out of this.

Despite the many challenges that exist, there is a lot to be confident about, she says. Like Parish, she believes that this sector could become a huge contributor to the economy, both in terms of exports and employment.

If a career in the green energy sector sounds interesting, why not persuade your business teacher to take your class on a field trip to Kylemore Abbey, to find out more about our heritage in this exciting area?

Watch Declan Gallagher of Oilean Glas Teo discuss the opportunities on offer to Irish businesses from renewable resources at irishtimes.com/business/education or on eoy.tv, the dedicated website for the series

Next week: Business in action – identifying opportunities and getting started