Introduction
Ireland’s strategy for the marine renewable energy sector originated in 2005 when ‘An Ocean Energy Strategy for Ireland’ was proposed to advance Ireland’s capability to deploy ocean energy technology and develop an industry sector in this field of emerging energy technology. It proposed a four phase strategy to capitalise on Ireland’s marine energy resource.
This phased strategy aims
a) to introduce ocean energy into the renewables portfolio in Ireland and
b) to develop an Irish ocean energy industry sector
The 2007 Government White Paper on energy policy ‘Delivering a sustainable energy future for Ireland - The Energy Policy Framework 2007-2020’ sets out a number of strategic goals, including a specific ocean (wave and tidal) energy target of 500 MW by 2020. This target was then restated in the 2007 Programme for Government.
The Ocean Energy Development Unit
In 2008, the then Minister for Energy Eamon Ryan established a dedicated Ocean Energy Development Unit (OEDU) section in the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), charged with co-ordinating the relevant activities of state agencies and initiating other measures to promote and develop the sector. In doing this it will address the critical areas to support the development of the Ocean Energy Strategy such as: Industry development & support for Industry products and services; enhancement of research facilities (HMRC & MERC3); establishment of wave and tidal test facilities; support reform of the Planning and Consenting; Grid development; and coordination of relevant state agencies.
The Ocean Energy Development Unit, operating with the support and assistance of the Marine Institute, oversees the implementation of the initiative, coordinating the many diverse interest groups involved in ocean energy and focuses them to achieve the objective of placing Ireland in pole position worldwide in the development of ocean energy technologies.
Contact us by email at ocean.energy@seai.ie
The Ocean Energy Strategy
The Ocean Energy strategy is structured into four phases as follows: Phase 1 is complete and Phase 2 is in process.
• Phase 1 Development: (2006 – 2008) This phase focuses on furthering the research and development capabilities in Ireland, both institutional and industrial. Support will be given for the design and construction of scale model prototypes that will confirm performance predictions for devices. Additionally, support will be given to strengthen research facilities, and to develop offshore test facilities.
• Phase 2 Pre-Commercial Single Device:(2008 – 2012) Following demonstration of commercial potential in Phase 1, this phase is focused on taking successful designs from the prototype stage and constructing a fully operational pre-commercial wave energy converter supplying power directly to the electricity network. The results of this phase will be used to assess the commercial viability of the technology and the resulting industrial opportunities available to Ireland.
• Phase 3 Pre-Commercial 10MW Array: The cost of ocean energy systems will reduce as the numbers of devices produced, per offshore development, increase. However, unless the devices can be arranged effectively in an array, large scale deployment will not be commercially viable. The array must be structured to minimise spacing requirements and installation costs while maximising energy yield. It is therefore necessary to construct an array of multiple devices and demonstrate that the array can operate successfully by delivering electricity to the network for a sustained period of time. Following the success of this phase, a precise estimate of the cost of a fully integrated wave or tidal farm will be available. This information will then be used to determine the nature of support required to support full-scale deployment of ocean energy in Ireland.
• Phase 4 Commercial Deployment: In this final phase of development support measures will be offered to ensure the continued growth in the deployment of ocean energy systems. Areas of support could include electricity price support, R&D support for further industrial development and further investment in 3rd Level facilities etc.
The full Ocean Energy Strategy document is availabe for the Ocean Energy Publications webpage.
