UNIVERSITIES AND colleges have been urged to design post-graduate courses in ocean engineering if Ireland is to avail of a potential €9 billion industry.
Ireland’s “economic perfect storm” should not deter educators from planning for a significant growth sector, the Marine Renewables Industry Association has said.
A report released this week by the association notes that a “key factor” in determining Ireland’s success in offshore renewable energy will be the “quality and availability of appropriately skilled graduates”, notably in engineering.
Little value is attached by industry generally to “energy engineering” qualifications, although there is “substantial capacity in engineering education” on the island, according to the association.
There is a “reasonable” supply of engineers, but shortages were noted in electrical engineering and there is also concern about the numbers entering the profession.
Opportunities in ocean energy will be “modest” to 2015, according to the report, but could be “very significant in the 2020s”.
Ocean engineering will require engineers with a “robust, core degree in the traditional disciplines of civil, electrical and mechanical engineering”.
The association acknowledges that providing real experience of working in a “tough offshore environment” is a big challenge.
Ireland, with Scotland, has some of the most energetic waves on this side of the Atlantic, but Scotland has attached far greater priority to the industry’s potential – due in a large part to the personal commitment of Scottish first minister Alex Salmond.
The Marine Renewables Industry Association report recommends initiation of a master’s degree programme in ocean engineering which “draws off the expertise in specific fields of individual colleges and which is designed to the highest international standards in conjunction with the industry”.
A recent report by SQW consultants forecast substantial income and job potential by the 2020s in marine renewable energy here, with the right supports.
The SQW study was commissioned by relevant State agencies, the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland and Invest Northern Ireland. It said there was “sound quantitative evidence” that a fully developed island of Ireland ocean energy sector could be exporting energy and producing a net present value of €9 billion by 2030, creating several thousand jobs.
In a related development, the latest progress on “SmartBay”, Ireland’s national facility for marine information communications technology in Galway Bay, was recently presented to State and industry interests at a Marine Institute workshop in Galway.
